Do Duel Monsters Dream of Cardboard Sheep?
by TobyKikami
Summary: Dark Magician and Celtic Guardian leave the cards. Due to a misunderstanding, Celtic Guardian thinks Yugi hates him. Rated for language.
1. Part One: Escape to Reality

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This fic takes place immediately after Seto Kaiba duels Pegasus and gets his soul stuck in a card. If anyone wants, I can put up a key of which monster is under which name, but please don't ask until you read Chapter One. 

Do Duel Monsters Dream of Cardboard Sheep?   
Part One: It's all in the Cards   
Chapter One: Escape to Reality   
_14 August 2003_ Ailill decided that his Master hated him the day they heard the screams.   
They had all heard the scream. Screams were commonplace in this, the place where the screams suppressed in the mortal realm were given form. It had been unfamiliar to all of them, a long vibrating child's cry that made Ailill think of birds.   
Birds- he wasn't quite sure how he knew of birds in this place. The only birds he knew of here were Niwatori, which he had only heard of from some of the more traveled among their little group, and perhaps the Harpies counted as birds in a way- then again if the Harpy sisters counted as birds so did Celestina. But he knew about them, and that was how he came to connect that cry with those birds he had never seen. But he was certain those cries did not contain words as did this voice, which, he was certain, was not one of them-   
(oh no big brother i'm sorry why does this have to happen oh seto why does that jerk have to do this oh seto please HELP ME!!!!)   
And then that cry was silenced as the unfortunate soul fell away to someplace beyond their prisons.   
They had speculated about it for a while. Aoibheann and Michael, being Aoibheann and Michael, had cut it off just when it was getting interesting. Then again, perhaps it was not exactly them that had done it, annoying as Ailill thought they were. Perhaps it had been cut short because Master had begun a duel. 

*** 

There were only routine if agonizing screams for a time after that. Once Ailill noted a shout of pleasure from Gabriel-   
(Master is right! A magician never reveals his secrets!)   
But shortly after this cry, ironically enough, the real screams began. One of the most pained, Ailill noted, was Michael's-   
(OH NO IT WAS A TRAP THAT FOOL CLOWN WAS TOO WEAK I SHOULD HAVE SEEN OH MASTER I HAVE FAILED YOU THE VIRUS THE VIRUS-)   
And Ailill almost thought he could hear (impossible in here he knew, but he could) the door to Michael's prison slamming after he tumbled inside. Any distorted pleasure he might have gained from this was quickly gone when he heard Gabriel's own cry-   
(Oh no Master I'm sorry I failed Master please oh please WIN)   
And then he heard Gabriel's kythe-   
(I have failed Master. I have failed Master.)   
Morgan was not included in this cluster that was in the mortal realm known as a deck, but she could reach out across the gap that separated decks, and Ailill always enjoyed feeling her kythe, being able to trust her with his own kythe. The Magician of Faith was well named indeed.   
(No, Gabriel, you didn't fail him. You did the best you could ha' done, Gabriel. You obeyed him, and 'tisn't your fault it happened)   
Ailill would have continued to listen; perhaps, he thought, if he could just listen to what she said to Gabriel he would feel somewhat redeemed for the fact that if there had ever been a duel he had won, he could not recall.   
Then he was being summoned.   
Ailill had become somewhat used to the sensation his mind experienced of being dragged from a prison into sudden blinding light. But he had never quite got used to the feeling of… well, _feeling_, of realizing that the blinding light was no longer just in his mind, identified as a blinding light from the rags of memory he treasured, but in the eyes granted him for as long as he managed to keep from being destroyed.   
Just dueling was no guarantee of sight. Once a short while ago he had been called upon to duel, and it was night. He remembered the pain of standing there and a different dark wrapping around him, dragging him towards a monster waiting deeper in that dark, ready to send him back to the original dark. He had slashed at it- as if dark could be killed with a sword! - and struggled to keep from being pulled in deeper. He remembered the pain of the dungeon worm's teeth biting into his limbs; he remembered he thrashed about like that Wall Shadow had done under the power of the Kunai Whip Chain. But it hadn't been any use. None of his efforts ever were of any use.   
Ailill stood there and had barely assessed the situation before he was called on to attack. He ran forward, noticing the many copies of Amaguri (once surprised newcomer to a nearby deck Black Jade had called Kuriboh, who as far as they knew had had no other name, a Sweet Chestnut and the name had stuck) floating about. Normally he would have been fearful confronted with one Blue Eyes White Dragon, let alone three polymerized ones, but black and rotting they suddenly didn't seem as much of a threat.   
He slashed at the center head and it came away quite easily; he was sure it belonged to Haku. Ailill landed back among the multiple Amaguri. He could feel an angry kythe back from the dark. It was Haku, of course, and he wasn't happy-   
(I'll get you you damned excuse for a warrior you just wait I'll come back and I'll get you)   
Ailill blocked out the kythe- it was easy once you learned- and watched as, true to Haku's pledge, the severed head reappeared, now white with blue eyes once again. But- why was Master's opponent standing at a place where all Ailill could see behind him was sky the color of Aoibheann's skin?   
Ailill knew exactly what to do. Chihiro and Sapphire had rotted down to strength quite below his own. All he had to do was slice Chihiro or Sapphire, it didn't matter which, and the battle would be won in one move.   
Now if Master would just ignore the suicide threats of his opponent and GIVE THE COMMAND…   
"Celtic Guardian, ATTACK!"   
Ailill ran straight for the rotting wreck that once was the Ultimate Dragon. As he did he could hear Chihiro's resigned kythe. He liked Chihiro; she was the most like Jewel of the other three Blue Eyes. Unlike their two brothers, she was somewhat sane.   
(Oh well, I suppose Master knew his gambit was risky…)   
The memory of Jewel was only slightly faded, and Ailill took a grim enjoyment in imagining his killer falling to a deserved death. Yes, killer, for with no card to anchor him to the rest of the deck, where was Jewel to go? He did not even have his prison now, not even a place from where he could kythe. And it was all because of Master's opponent.   
The opportunity was denied him, as it always was.   
"No! Yugi, don't do this!"   
Ailill could ignore that voice; it reminded him of Morgan, in a way, but Morgan wanted more than anything to duel. "If only I could duel," she would say. This, he knew, was Morgan's Master, though he couldn't help but think that Morgan deserved a Master better than this one who had never given Morgan an opportunity to duel as she so wanted, even though Morgan was supposedly her master's favorite.   
Of course Morgan would hurt. Being the Magician of Faith did not make her immune to hurt; in fact, sensitive as she was, any pain from anyone on the field was felt by her. But perhaps, like Black Jade and Michael, she wouldn't care about the pain; perhaps she thought it a fair price for being able to duel like all the others, for having eyes.   
More than once, after the pain had been particularly bad, Ailill had contemplated the benefits of switching places with her.   
But this was not Morgan beseeching him to stop and let the vengeful Haku incinerate him. When that happened, he knew, the numbers would go down and then Master would have no numbers left. Master would lose and the killer of Jewel would not pay for his crime.   
Morgan, too, had cared about Jewel. Morgan understood that one could not lose a duel as important as this once just because of such a blatant manipulation as Jewel's killer was doing right now. Morgan understood that Ailill wanted to win as much as she wanted to duel. Morgan understood all that.   
An extremely irritated Ailill reflected as he neared his goal that perhaps Morgan should be the Master of her current Master. Morgan, after all, knew what had to be done.   
"NO! STOP!"   
And this time it was a voice he could not ignore, though he would have liked to do so.   
He felt Chihiro reaching her mind out to his. Her kythe was full of disbelief, then a mix of disbelief and gratitude, and when he heard this-   
(at least now Master will not die)   
-Ailill wanted to scream what Michael called heresy so loud that they could hear it everywhere.   
Instead he stood before the dragons, his sword dropped somewhere he didn't bother to look, eyes cast downward, trying to find great interest in his boots. He knew he didn't dare look up and see Haku's knowing smirk; he knew that Haku knew, and he was burning in humiliation even before Haku's attack struck him.   
From the corner of his eye Ailill thought he could see the numbers going down, as he knew they would. 

*** 

Ailill had grown used to the sensation of being yanked roughly back to his prison, of the pain slowly going away. This time, though, the pain did not go completely away. There was still psychic pain; the pain of knowing he had been _this_ close to actually winning this time, but it had been taken away by none other than his own Master. Of course Morgan's Master had helped, but she didn't really count; he didn't have to listen to her. It was his own Master that Ailill had to obey.   
If he had real eyes he would have shed enough tears to drown himself. As it was Ailill withdrew all but one kything line. He said nothing on this line, instead listened to Amaguri tell everyone how they had been this close to winning, but for Master's sudden ideals which, though they no doubt served him well in other aspects of Master's life, were unsuitable for dueling.   
Morgan was the first to kythe to him. Gabriel followed soon after, and Ailill was grateful.   
(Ailill, please, 'tisn't your fault the duel was lost. 'Tisn't your fault)   
(Yes, Ailill, it was none of it your fault. You did not fail Master, Ailill. You obeyed)   
(Gabriel's right, Ailill. You obeyed Master like you ought to have done. 'Tisn't your fault)   
(That's the problem. If it's not my fault, if I obeyed, then who am I to blame?)   
Silence along the kything lines. Morgan and Gabriel knew perfectly well who Ailill was to blame. 

*** 

There were screams afterward, but they were the same old routine ones for a while. Morgan's Master dueled the Master of the Harpies and won without even touching Morgan's card. The only screams slightly unusual were those of Sapphire and Chihiro. Sapphire was surprisingly glad to be sent to the graveyard-   
(yes yes yes yes yes Chihiro do it NOW I hate this body and I hate that Pegasus with that stupid eye of his get me out of here GET ME OUT OF HERE Chihiro can't you blast me any faster)   
Chihiro's came only a short while later. It was not a cry of dying, but it hurt.   
(I hate you Pegasus oh how I hate you you and all those cards you make for YOURSELF and of course you make them better than even Exodia don't you, you think you can do anything even take Master's little brother, you think you can use that damn Piper I hate you I hate you I hate you)   
The screams had become so regular that after the one of Michael's "fool clown" faded away, nobody expected another one so soon.   
But there was one more.   
(Mokuba I failed I failed Mokuba I'm sorry please don't hate me I lost I lost damn that Pegasus who thinks he can do anything oh Mokuba I lost)   
Ailill thought it was the same variety of the one they had heard earlier that day, the one who had cried out to someone called Seto. All of a sudden he realized he had heard that voice under different circumstances. He had heard it only a short while ago, and all of a sudden he was angry.   
(serves you right, you killed Jewel)   
He had no way of knowing whether this Seto person (if, Ailill thought, he could even be termed a person) had heard his angry kythe, but he felt slightly better. Just slightly.   
It wasn't until the soul had fallen out of sight that he realized there were gaps. 

*** 

It wasn't that hard to find the specific location of the gaps. Ailill simply concentrated, willing a kything line out into the mortal realm through the hologram generators to find the place Seto's soul had occupied. It was moving away quickly; for a moment he thought he could hear Master's voice as his kything line passed through a certain location in the gap.   
And he was certain there was another one, perhaps two.   
He threw out another kything line to Gabriel, who easily caught it.   
(Gabriel do you feel the gaps look I'll show you) And he did.   
(I see. I believe… the souls were taken away. The ones we heard this morning…)   
(I think these gaps were where they used to be. Gabriel, could you slide someone into those gaps?)   
(I suppose I could. Ailill, why are you showing me this?)   
(Because I need to go there)   
Ailill hadn't expected Gabriel to understand. Gabriel did not understand. Once they had been four, Ailill, Gabriel, Morgan, and Jewel. Ailill was the acknowledged troublemaker; Gabriel had always been the most passive. He never longed to fight like Morgan and Jewel; then again he was Master's favorite and unlike Morgan's Master, theirs played his favorites often. He never found any fault with anything Master did.   
He was almost as bad as Aoibheann and Michael, except for the fact that he was Ailill's friend.   
(Ailill, it is not safe there)   
(This isn't safe either. Look, Gabriel, if something happens to your card- like what happened to Jewel's- what'll you do then?)   
His mention of Jewel had evidently hit its target. He continued-   
(And if that happens we'll be just like Jewel, we'll be in defense mode with no traps, can't do anything about what they do to us)   
(Master will take care of us)   
(He will take care of us like the Master before took care of Jewel)   
(Ailill, don't say such things!)   
That was from Gabriel and Aoibheann both. He went to his main point.   
(Besides, he hates me)   
Stunned silence. Just as Aoibheann was about to fill the kything line with words of reproach, he went on.   
(Think of it, Gabriel. Have you ever remembered a time when I won a duel?)   
Then Morgan joined in-   
(None of it be your fault, Ailill, 'tisn't your Master's either, that your numbers are lower'n so many other's)   
(That's not it. Like Amaguri said, we were going to win. I was right about to win, and he stopped me. He doesn't want me to win. He hates me and he only cares because the numbers go down)   
(Ailill, how dare you denounce Master!)   
(Shut up, Michael. Ailill's right. Just shut up)   
Ailill smiled along the kything line- (Gabriel, please, just put me into one of those. He doesn't need me anyway)   
(He could need you)   
The argument was growing weaker.   
(Ailill, he does need you. We're to serve Master and…)   
(Gabriel, do you remember our first seeing duel?)   
Pause. Then-   
(Yes. Yes, I remember. The Faceless Mage. I'll send myself to the graveyard forever if I have to fight that Faceless Mage again)   
Ailill shared his sentiments. He still remembered the sheer agony of being torn apart by his own friend's Dark Magic Attack.   
(Please, Gabriel, just help me)   
(I shall do more than that. I will come with you)   
Ailill was about to protest when-   
(I must go, since I am the spellcaster)   
Aoibheann was indignant. (But Gabriel, how could you! Master needs you most of all!)   
(I need to go too if this spell is to work)   
(But…) She obviously had no argument left.   
(Aoibheann, Master could use you too. He just needs the Sword and Shield and you could fight Black Jade)   
(I could not. His numbers are larger than mine)   
(But it would be close, Aoibheann. I need to go)   
Morgan kythed again- (What am I to do?)   
(I will return for you, Morgan, if we determine it is safe. There are only a few gaps)   
(All right)   
She obviously did not sound convinced. Ailill had to add something-   
(And when we get there, Morgan, I'll get your Master to play you if that's what you want)   
(That would be wonderful, Ailill) 

*** 

The spell took a long time to develop, and Ailill loved every moment of being infused into the gap, every moment of feeling more and more real. Which was part of the reason it was such a surprise when he opened dark blue eyes. He pulled some dark unkempt hair before those eyes, took note of the orange and white striped sleeve and frowned.   
Apparently, Gabriel had been too accurate in targeting the soulless gaps. He was currently in the body of a child, who was currently chained to the wall. 


	2. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Millen...

Chapter Two: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Millennium Items   
_14 August_

Gabriel still could not find a credible reason for why he had done what he had done. Michael's accusatory kythe still echoed in his mind. Though it had been directed at Ailill, as Ailill's friend he felt it applied equally to him.   
(You heretic)   
And Ailill's reply- (So I'm not to try and defend what's mine then)   
And Michael had said-   
(You have nothing of yours! Everything is Master's. You are to obey Master, and only obey)   
Apparently, Gabriel thought, Michael thought he had done an exceptionally good job of obeying Master, and therefore had the right to tell everyone else how to do it. Gabriel was somewhat grateful that he was Master's favorite, as he was spared most of the egotistical knight's rhetoric. But not even he was spared all of it.   
He remembered the allegation Michael had for him alone, and not Ailill. He had thought of this constantly while performing the spell to place Ailill and himself into those gaps, and perhaps this was part of the reason he had been so precise-too precise, actually-   
_ (I worry for you. You ought to be a better example to the others, what with being Master's favored one and everything. But you aren't. Why do you associate with the likes of Ailill and that rogue Blue Eyes? Why can you not acquire more estimable associates?)_   
_ (Such as _you_, Michael?)_   
But he should not blame Michael for his own mistake. He should instead take responsibility as the maker of this spell and figure out how to extricate himself from his present situation.   
The body he had stuck himself in was about the age he looked whenever he was in a seeing duel. He was wearing a dark blue coat of the exact same design as that of Chihiro's Master- in fact, Gabriel realized, this could very well be the body of Chihiro's Master that was chained to the wall. Ailill was nowhere to be seen. Nobody was anywhere to be seen.   
He flung out a kything line- it took considerably more effort now. He found Ailill quite easily; the latter was evidently relieved.   
(I think this was the first one, Gabriel)   
(Yes, I think so, too)   
(What can you do about this?)   
Gabriel thought about that. (I believe I can do something) 

*** 

Maximilian Pegasus, re-founder of Duel Monsters, self-proclaimed King of Games, unlicensed stealer of souls [1], and No. 1 sponsor of cartoon shows in the nation, sprawled across his gargantuan bed in his cherished custom-fitted Funny Bunny silk pajamas, fast asleep. So of course he failed to notice when his Millennium Eye began to glow as a certain blue-eyed not-dragon tapped into its power. The only thing he remembered of the incident was a bright light, and then he thought it a dream. 

*** 

Yugi Motou was also asleep- after all, he listened to his grandfather, and according to his grandfather, boys under eighteen should not stay up to nearly midnight unless it was New Year's Eve [2]. He failed to notice the puzzle he was clutching so tightly was glowing like a little kid's night light. After all, Yugi had long ago outgrown night lights. 

*** 

Ryou Bakura, like his counterparts, was asleep. Not only that, he was contending with an especially bad dream when his yami decided to take over. Therefore, there was no struggle, and less than a minute after it started Yami Bakura was kneeling on the bed watching the Millennium Ring glow with an inscrutable expression. 

*** 

Ailill knew this was not an easy task for his friend. Through the kything line necessary for the process, he could feel Gabriel's mental exertions as he summoned more and more power from the three sources in the area. The more he summoned the more some of his own power drained away. However, the total power reservoir was growing, a good thing; Gabriel needed every bit of it.   
After what seemed like forever and a year, there was enough.   
Ailill felt Gabriel reaching out; pulling his soul out from the body that was not rightfully his. He was glad to leave it.   
He emerged in a blind tumble of memory and sensation. There was no way to measure how much mind was there; he was like some ethereal gas. It was much like his prison back in the card, except that instead of dark there was a shifting design, either all colors or no colors, which renewed into something much different before he could fully comprehend them. He felt like he was looking into himself, into his own mind, since he could not sense the world outside with no eyes, no ears… Ailill smiled and felt his smile vibrate around him with no place else to go as he recalled that one duel when for once he had not been destroyed (then again, he had not done much, either. He never could do very much) and Aoibheann had been called out at the same time as he, and later, in an attempt to console him for the fact that he had done absolutely nothing, Aoibheann had told him that his ears were the best of all of theirs. Then again, she had not exactly inspected the ears (if they had any. Some didn't) of every one of them in Master's deck. It was probably just to make him feel better.   
And then Gabriel was reaching out through the kything line again, guiding his mind together, chasing after stray particles- he knew how Ailill treasured his memories of Before. Ailill felt knocked down by worry when he sensed how little power Gabriel had left. But then Gabriel spoke-   
(There is no need to worry)   
Whereupon Ailill was being directed into a new place; he entered this place eagerly, and once he had collected himself at the core he reached out his mind, taking over each cell Gabriel had summoned and savoring the feeling of feeling as each section of his new body was opened to him.   
When he had completed this, when he had reveled in feeling really real for the first time he could truly remember, Ailill opened his eyes and pulled himself to his feet.   
Gabriel had truly performed a wonderful achievement. He had taken the image of Ailill that was projected onto the field in seeing duels and labeled Celtic Guardian and made it real. All of it. Real. Ailill stood there for another time, looking himself over best as he could. Gabriel had not forgotten a thing. Not the boots, not the cloak, not the sword, not _anything_.   
He turned to see the body he had temporarily occupied fallen face down onto the stone floor. It really was that of a child; someone much younger than anyone Ailill had ever known unless you counted two of the heads of the Faceless Mage, and he did not put the Faceless Mage and this child in the same category. Long unkempt hair that made Ailill think of Amaguri's fur, only darker. The orange and white striped shirt. The shoes that were unlike anything he had ever seen on the field.   
And the chains, running from each ankle to a spot on the wall.   
Ailill suddenly felt incredibly angry. According to Aoibheann, they were to serve masters because their power was so great they couldn't be trusted with it by themselves. But this was a child, with no particular power in the way that Gabriel and Chihiro and her brothers had power; if there had been any Ailill would have sensed it when he had been there. Why did they wish to confine someone like this?   
It just went to show that Aoibheann was wrong. They had not been trapped in those cards to control their power. They had to obey because the Masters wished to have someone to obey them no matter what. Ailill abruptly began to grin, then laugh-   
(well now there is no more no matter what)   
-And then he reached for his sword, sliding it out of the sheath with practiced ease, and with two quick slices the chain from the wall had been severed and the child now had some very nice shiny ankle bracelets.   
By the time Gabriel arrived, Ailill had stopped laughing and smiling both. Now he was holding the child, who was completely limp in his arms. The eyes were shut, which was a good thing- Ailill didn't think he could stand eyes with no soul behind them looking up at him.   
He looked at his friend and spoke. "Hello, Gabriel."   
Gabriel smiled in response. "I do not believe it would be advisable to do it again in the near future."   
"All right then. And Gabriel… the gaps…"   
"Yes?"   
"If we put this soul back where it ought to be, do we have to go back too?"   
Gabriel thought on that for a while. "No, we do not have to."   
"I guess this is the first thing we're to do, then," said Ailill. "Give this child his soul back."   
"I agree with you, Ailill. I agree." 

*** 

Yami Bakura made his way down the hallway, stepping carefully. The Millennium Ring glowed faintly and pointed the general direction, but its light did not carry for more than a foot or two. He liked it that way; he smiled thinking of what things you could do in the dark.   
His smile vanished as he focused on locating whatever force had tapped into the power from _his _ring. He had no idea who or what it might be, but he had inferred one thing: he was _not _going to like it. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES:   
[1] That's right, I don't like Pegasus. So sue me. Not literally, of course...   
[2] Then again, not everyone likes the idea of staying up till midnight on New Year's Eve *coughparentscough* so, just assume Yugi's grandpa is infinitely understanding, unlike certain parents I won't name. 


	3. Croquet? You're fired

Chapter Three: Croquet? You're fired   
_14 August_

They made their way down the hallway at a rate so slow that their distance per minute in feet would probably require decimals. Gabriel walked ahead, staff held out, ready to collide with any unseen obstruction that might be in their path. At least, Ailill _thought _that was what it was for- for what other thing could Gabriel use it? After all, he did his Dark Magic Attack with his hand, not the staff. And if the green jewel in the staff could glow, as Ailill suspected it could, then they would be giving themselves away to anyone who happened to walk down the hall from the opposite direction.   
Ailill himself was several feet behind Gabriel, carrying the child; the latter had not stirred once, and Ailill wasn't surprised. How could he move at all with no soul in his body? How could he even still be breathing? He couldn't ask Gabriel, not now when he needed to focus so badly.   
He was sure Gabriel was having second thoughts now- maybe he had been having second thoughts for a long time. He was sure Gabriel was calling himself insane.   
But Gabriel had done it. That was what counted. 

*** 

Yami Bakura's eyes were unusually good in the dark; his ears were just good. They had to be- in his chosen profession eyes and ears like his weren't just an asset- they were a requirement. Real thieves, after all, didn't go about with devices of lighting that advertised their location to any passerby.   
That was part of the reason he had wrapped a gray scarf around the Ring so that its glow was even more muted. He could just barely make out the pointers, but he could make them out.   
He walked slowly, constantly turning and sweeping his dark-eyed glance in every direction. When Ryou did that, he generally wound up looking apprehensive, which he was; those big brown eyes were a veritable invitation for any predator to attack. But anyone looking at his yami performing the same action would never in a millennia mistake that expression for one of fear. Ryou looked for predators; his yami _was_ a predator.   
At the moment, an extremely displeased predator.   
He'd been walking around for Ra knew how long, without the slightest idea of who had dared to take the Ring's power for their own use. He cursed in a language whose impact was slightly lessened by the fact that near nobody could understand it as he realized the possibility that whoever had used the Ring could also have placed a blocking charm on it, so that it was blinded to things of its own making.   
He cursed several more times, and Ryou let out an automatic objection concerning the intensity of his chosen profanity. By Ra- when had he stopped blocking?   
(must be more careful next time)   
Yami Bakura hastily crushed a button camera he'd seen out of the corner of one eye, then went about erecting a shield between Ryou and himself, a task he had performed many times and could literally do in his sleep.   
But something went wrong this time around.   
He cursed again and ignored Ryou best as he could as he came to the obvious conclusion- not only had the Ring been blinded from all the power drained, it had been otherwise crippled. No longer could he show Ryou anything beside the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. No longer could Ryou be denied the use of his own eyes and ears. And by Set, in all likelihood he could probably no longer seal souls- after all, it required a good deal more power than the shielding.   
This time he used the worst curses he could remember, and it was only by virtue of his ears that he heard the footsteps of someone around the next corner-   
(By Ra and Set why does there always have to be something around the next corner?)   
His voluntary muscles all drew taut; he lifted up the Ring-   
(at least if they shoot this could be some help blocking)   
-And he laughed at the thought. His laughter was sharp as the hair of the Pharaoh no baka, and just as strange. This was probably why the footsteps came to a complete halt.   
He kept on laughing, more for the heck of it than for anything else. His spare hand jammed into the back pockets of Ryou's jeans one after the other, then extracted a flashlight and dueling deck. He held the flashlight and deck before him like that celebrity from America might hold a gun in entertainment (Ryou had heard of the American celebrity, but had never once watched any Clint Eastwood film; he wasn't interested in the genre except to use comparisons from it).   
Although now, with the failure of the Ring, he thought he trusted a gun more.   
A figure emerged from around the corner. He hadn't thought he could stiffen any more without undergoing rigor mortis, but apparently he hadn't correctly gauged the capacity of this body.   
This was insane.   
If Ryou's eyes weren't deceiving him, there was someone before him with the exact silhouette of the Dark Magician. There was only one thing to do-   
(I can't exactly pretend this is a gun, much as I might like it to)   
-he gritted perfectly-brushed teeth (because Ryou was a perfectly-brushed-teeth kind of person), aimed the flashlight while trying not to bend the cards in the same hand, and pressed the button so hard he swore the finger was paling even more than it already was.   
A circle of revealing light-   
(who needs the Swords of Revealing Light when you have this?)   
-illuminated the hallway, turning what had looked like dark purple carpeting to red.   
The figure let out a startled cry and stepped backward, hands before his face. The staff in one of them nearly whacked Yami Bakura in the face. He frowned as he noted that what he could see was identical to that of the hologram that represented Yugi Motou's Dark Magician. There was no way this could be Yugi wandering about the halls as a bit of fun- he was far too tall.   
(If this is a stunt by some wannabe duelist it's a damn good stunt. And I don't think it's a stunt)   
The hands came down, showing him blue eyes that made him think of what he saw when Ryou looked in a mirror. He could sense the fear and surprise in those eyes that were so like Ryou's.   
He had only begun to recover from this when his mind was sent scrambling again.   
There was another one which was, if he wasn't mistaken, Celtic Guardian (he didn't know many of what he considered weaker cards- this one didn't even have an effect like Magician of Faith or Man-Eater Bug did. Man-Eater Bug only had roughly a third of Celtic Guardian's attack power, but Man-Eater Bug was the one with the "sugoi" effect). Another carbon copy of the hologram right down to the four medallions dangling from the armor and the red stone in the center of the helmet.   
Then again, the Celtic Guardian he had seen wasn't carrying Mokuba Kaiba.   
Before his mind could go through all the facts and draw a logical conclusion as to What He Should Do Next, his mouth was automatically opening.   
"You're the one who stole the power of the Millennium Ring, you…"   
The voice was quite low as it pronounced the words, "Dark Magic Attack."   
Ryou screamed; he thought he heard himself screaming, too. He was flung back, everything falling from his hands. He grasped at one card that he thought might be a Spell Binding Circle, but it probably wasn't. He wasn't sure if he even had that card. The ring of light dropped down to someplace he couldn't see; he heard the dull knock of the Millennium Ring striking the carpet. He struck the ground, staring up at the unseen ceiling.   
Ryou's screaming was going on something fierce. Yami Bakura lay there and watched the two that logically were supposed to be cards pick up the Ring and one of his cards.   
"Gabriel, it's Celestina."   
"Celestina? You are sure this is Celestina?"   
"Yes, you see the words right here?"   
"'Change of Heart.'"   
He was suddenly full of righteous anger- (how dare they touch MY Change of Heart card!) -but he was smart enough to be silent as they went on.   
Yes, remember Jewel said that Celestina was in a card that said-"   
"I remember what Jewel said, Ailill."   
"Gabriel, d'you think…"   
"No. No, I cannot."   
"But why not?"   
"I apologize, but… all that power…"   
"Oh. I see. It's really too bad about Celestina…"   
"At least when we return you can tell Morgan and the others that you saw Celestina."   
"I'm not going back. D'you know what Michael and Aoibheann would say if I came back?"   
"I see…"   
And then they were lifting the Millennium Ring high, only it was in Mokuba Kaiba's limp little hand. It was glowing and pointing down the hall, and they were headed down the hall, with Celtic Guardian first kneeling and placing Change of Heart in Ryou's hand. And then Ryou was asking what the bloody hell just happened. He couldn't answer. 

*** 

Pegasus had been having an incredibly pleasurable dream involving Funny Bunny, the late Mrs. Pegasus, and "fruit juice." That was why he was so annoyed when he woke to find someone slicing into the door of one of his in-room safety deposit boxes (the one labeled Funny Bunny Toys) with what looked suspiciously like a sword. The other one was already severely mangled and lying on the floor. His favorite Funny Bunny toys cascaded over it.   
"Chihiro was right. He's crazy. Putting those stupid toys behind the door that said Soul Cards."   
"At least, Ailill, we can safely assume that this one contains them. Ailill?"   
"Yes?"   
"What is a funny bunny toy?"   
"The most wonderful thing in the world!"   
The intruders both turned and looked at him with wide eyes. The door to the second safety deposit box fell off. Nobody moved.   
It was then that he remembered. He reached for a cell phone and dialed. "Hello? Croquet? You're fired."   



	4. Parting of the Ways

Chapter Four: The Parting of the Ways   
_4 minutes to midnight, 14 August_

After the puzzle stopped glowing Yugi began to dream with a new intensity. He dreamed he was in the Shadow Realm wearing Dark Magician's clothes, including the shiny purple semi-conical hat twice the size of his head, and that he was speaking to a Red Eyes Black Dragon who seemed to be named Jade; he talked like Joey and called Yugi Gabe. Jade asked him where someone called "Lill" was and Yugi had to admit he didn't know. Then the Mystical Elf was speaking to him, telling him to stay, saying, "Master needs you most of all, Gabriel. Don't go." Yugi woke up right when he was about to try and explain.   
"That was strange," he said to nobody in particular. He stretched his arms and legs to their fullest extent, then hopped off the bed and made his way over to where he kept his deck.   
There was nothing that could have been more comforting to Yugi at that moment than the glossy feel of the cards he knew and loved. He looked at them one by one, smiling as he looked at Mystical Elf, Curse of Dragon, Gaia the Fierce Knight, Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress, Dark Magician…   
(wait a minute!)   
He blinked. He pinched himself. He called Yami Yugi. But none of his actions changed the fact that there was a completely blank space where the picture should have been on his favorite card.   
Yugi and Yami were forcibly removed from their stupor by the crashing in the hall outside. 

*** 

They were running best as they could, but they had discovered it was quite hard to run and carry a soulless body at the same time. Ailill was dropping behind fast, and when Gabriel stopped to let him catch up, the stretch of empty hallway between them and the guards was considerably shortened.   
Ailill saw Gabriel looking at the cards in his left hand, the cards they had obtained from behind the second door. All of a sudden all three were on the floor and Gabriel had lifted his staff high. The jewel was glowing. "What are you-" He stumbled back as all the colors seemed to switch to their opposites in the wake of Gabriel's staff.   
He landed hard, and all of a sudden the child was screaming incoherently and thrashing on top of him, and one shoe struck him quite hard. Ailill bit back several curses as pain collected in that spot. Then the child had got off him at last. He got to his feet and looked at their current situation.   
In the short time since Gabriel threw down the cards it had gotten much, much worse. 

*** 

Sugoroku Motou moaned softly and opened his eyes. His first words were, "Yugi's cards…" 

*** 

Near-interchangeable guards were coming closer from both directions. They had with them dark shiny things that looked like nothing he had ever seen before, but he knew they weren't good things. He looked around for a convenient door to enter; there was nothing but a gold frame of squares filled with glass through which he could see dark sky.   
The child was looking at him with wide eyes the color of that sky and full of wonderment. Ailill thought of his first seeing duel, and how his role in it had so quickly ended; he winced.   
"Are you… but weren't you…"   
Gabriel cut him off with a raised hand. "There is no time for this."   
(nothing to do about this, either)   
Ailill took another look at the guards. He looked at the glass. He looked through the glass. And he had an idea.   
"Gabriel?"   
"Yes, Ailill?"   
He indicated the glass. "D'you think you could break that?"   
"Yes, why do you ask?"   
He thrust the child close to Gabriel. "You're the one that can do that safest. I don't think I could make it down that far."   
Gabriel's expression was comparable to that of the child. "You cannot mean it."   
The guards had apparently become tired of being ignored. "Hey, you two jokers cut it out and hand over the kid!"   
"He's not ours to give," Ailill snapped right back. They were talking about this child like he was one of them in a deck, and as if they were Masters… Ailill had to resist the temptation to draw his sword and decapitate the speaker.   
"I mean it! You think dressing up as cards is gonna save you, think again!"   
He turned back to Gabriel. "I can mean it. And I do. You're the one with the impact-absorbing spells."   
"I know that." He didn't look particularly happy about this.   
"All right, you ASKED for it!"   
The explosion sounded even louder than Haku's finishing shot. Ailill flung himself to the ground again, and got up when he heard one of the guards screaming.   
"Ow! Stupid- bounced right off!"   
Gabriel had thrown up a shield around the three of them that was still trembling from whatever it was that struck it, distorting the images that could be seen through it. He looked straight at Ailill. "I could take you with us."   
"Better this way. Take it away from me. It'll take less just to protect you and him. Besides…" His grim smile had no happiness in it. "I guess it's my fate to have the impossible battles."   
Gabriel still hadn't decreased the size of the shield. He was getting ready to protest again, Ailill knew it; they hadn't got the time for more reasoning. He took the hard option. "Damn you, Gabriel, take it away from me now or I'll- I'll take that staff and break it! I will! I _mean_ it!" And he did mean every word of it. He could feel tears as he said it; he wiped them away with the back of his sword hand-   
(why do you have to make me do this to you)   
- then at last Gabriel, his own eyes looking like miniature lakes, made a motion with one hand and the shield was away from him. Ailill drew his sword and prepared for the first impossible battle where he could make his own decisions; the first impossible battle where there were no numbers to mark out who would win and who would lose.   
He began to fight. 

*** 

"What's going on here?"   
"Buzz off, kid, it's none of your business."   
"But I-"   
"I said, it's none of your business! Buzz off!" With that, he pointed unmistakably back to the guest rooms. "NOW!"   
Yugi turned around with quite a bit of reluctance. From the corner of his eye he thought he saw someone familiar, but then the guard was on his case again, and he had to go. 

*** 

(he meant it when he said he'd break it he did mean it)   
Gabriel grabbed the hand of the child and ran for the window. It shattered as the first of Gabriel's shield met it, and then they had passed straight through the mangled remains. He motioned with his staff, and the shield reformed into a dark ball that started for the ground at an incredible rate.   
The child began to scream as they fell. "Seto! Seto! Seto!" Right then they struck, Gabriel and the child both being flung upward like a pair of puppets with their strings cut. As Gabriel fell back to solid ground the shield dissipated, leaving them both vulnerable. Gabriel got back up, dragging the child with him by the hand that he had never let go of. Then he began to run blindly for the forest, not daring to look back because he was sure of what he would see. Behind him the child continued to scream.   



	5. Part Two: The Beginning of the Journey

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Several reviewers told me they could use a key to the Duel Monster's names, so here's the ones I've figured out: Ailill & Gabriel (if you haven't figured out who these two are, you haven't read the story!)=Celtic Guardian and Dark Magician, respectively. Morgan=Magician of Faith. Jewel=Blue Eyes White Dragon whose card Seto ripped.   
Michael=Gaia the Fierce Knight (sorry Gaia fans!). Chihiro, Sapphire, and Haku=Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragons. Brendan=Flame Swordsman. Black Jade=Red Eyes Black Dragon. Aoibheann (pronounced EE-vahn or something to that effect)=Mystical Elf. Amaguri=Kuriboh.Celestina=Change of Heart (who, I note, is a MAGIC card). 

And in response to lily22's query, yeah, I watched Spirited Away in Japanese class. Two of the names, Chihiro and Haku, appealed to me, so I used them. *mild SA spoiler here!* The original Haku (Kohaku something actually- something so long it's no wonder he forgot it) was a dragon, but he wasn't quite as obnoxious as the Blue Eyes who has his name- gomen to Haku fans! *spoiler end* 

WARNING: This fic has less-than-flattering opinions about the duelists we all know and love (at least some of us do). 

Part Two: We who are about to die salute you   
Chapter Five: The Beginning of the Journey   
_15 August_ Pegasus grinned and sipped "fruit juice" as he watched the struggle onscreen. This was better entertainment for him than most so-called cartoons these days (all that suffering- ugh!); it even just started to rival the lesser Funny Bunny remakes to see dear Kaiba-boy with his soul back in him (he still hadn't figured out exactly how_ that _had happened) trying to fight off twenty guards at once. Kaiba, whose deck was currently being dissected card by card.   
Three Blue Eyes White Dragons; now if only he had reached Mr. Motou before Kaiba had he would have four. Of course having all four in a deck was against the rules, but so was making your own cards to fit your various tight situations. Being King of Games gave him certain… privileges, after all.   
But he would have to make do with three.   
And when Yugi-boy had finished off the rest of the competition, including Mr. Joseph Wheeler, he would have to deal with three Blue Eyes once again- without Exodia. Then again, he'd still have that Kuriboh, and Multiply, not to mention Living Arrow and Mammoth Graveyard, but what were the chances…   
"Sir? We caught this crazy kid dressed as a card. Should we-"   
Pegasus turned to see two guards. "Was there another?"   
"Yes, sir, but that one jumped out the large window near the guest rooms with the… younger Kaiba."   
"The guest rooms? Tell me, did a certain Yugi Motou take any notice of all this commotion?"   
"Yes, sir. We sent him away."   
"Oh. I do hope you were polite about it."   
"Um, yes, sir."   
"And this other intruder jumped out the window with the younger Kaiba boy?"   
"Yes, sir."   
"All right then. Please send someone to clean up the blood. I hate mess."   
The guards turned and looked at each other at the exact same time; they looked like twins. Pegasus pulled out a Funny Bunny camera and snapped a picture, which turned their attention back to him. "Um, sir… it's not our job to send people."   
"Croquet was recently dismissed. It's the job of one of _you _now."   
The guards pointed at each other and said at the same time, "_He's_ perfect for the job."   
"Oh my. I suppose I'll have to assign both of you to his vacated position." Pegasus ignored their horrified expressions and continued. "Now, bring in the intruder you _did _catch."   
He was brought in with a large retinue of guards, standing so close to him (presumably for fear that he might pull a gun or something) that at first Pegasus couldn't see him at all. "Move," he snapped, and they did, quite promptly.   
This "kid" (no, not a kid in the same category as Yugi Motou or Mokuba Kaiba, more like a kid in the sense that Joseph Wheeler was one) was not so much dressed as the picture on the card or the hologram than looked just like the picture on the card or the hologram. The same fair hair, which had become considerably disheveled during the battle Pegasus had neglected to watch. The same long, pointed ears that would, if folded, go straight across his face. Even the exact same color cloak. Pegasus's right eyebrow raised just a little bit when he noticed the absence of the sword, but it went back down when he saw one of the guards holding it with eyes so big it implied this particular sword, considering the owner, might bite.   
Unless the eyes of Maximilian Pegasus were deceiving him big time, this was, to all appearances, the Celtic Guardian.   
He had been forced into a kneeling position by two of the guards, who also held his arms behind his back. He was looking straight at Pegasus with those light brown eyes narrowed in hostility just like on the card; Pegasus found himself thinking of the wolves at Domino Zoo.   
"Um, sir?"   
"Ah yes. Take him someplace where I can watch him."   
"Would the… recently vacated one do, sir?"   
"Yes, that will do quite well. Just bring in some more chains, and it will be quite satisfactory." Pegasus turned away from the accusations in those eyes. "And then get yourselves all to bed and do not, I repeat, DO NOT disturb me until morning." 

*** 

"Excuse me?"   
Gabriel turned to face his young charge. "Yes, what do you have to say?" It came out unintentionally harsh; Gabriel winced.   
Tears shone in those big dark blue eyes and made them look like… jewels. He looked away. "Sorry."   
"No, it is all right. I think we have gone far enough for tonight." As if on cue, Gabriel suddenly felt all the actions he had performed since Ailill had persuaded him into this piling on top of him, forcing him down. He twisted around on his side to look once more at the castle, now a considerable distance away.   
His view was abruptly blocked by the child, who was speaking again. "Please, sir," he said, obviously trying to be as polite and detached as possible (but Gabriel could see the earnest eyes), "could we please go back and get my brother? He went there for me and that's why he's there and I ought to go get him, because he came for me."   
Gabriel opened his mouth to reply, but then he was being dragged down to the ground again. He wasn't certain what he would say, at any rate.   
"_Please_!" The pretension of aloofness was gone, and now the child had clambered on top of him, had begun to shout. "My brother's back there! We've got to go back and get him, we have _got_ to!"   
Before he could even think of a reply, let alone speak one, Gabriel had shut his eyes and faded into the dark. 

*** 

(Well hello to all!)   
Michael had just gotten nicely begun on the point of his rant, and was therefore … somewhat miffed.   
(Excuse me, Black Jade, but some of us are speaking here!)   
(Hey, Mikey, lighten up already! Some of us know da meanin' of fun!)   
(Do not call me Mikey!)   
(Sure thing, Mikey)   
Morgan smiled in her mind, and her smile translated itself across the kything lines- (It be nice seeing you, Jade)   
(Sure thing, Morgan. Hey, Sweet Chestnut!)   
Amaguri squeaked right back- (Hey!)   
(And hi, Miss Evie!)   
(Well… hello, Black Jade)   
(Aw, c'mon, just Jade is fine wi' me! And Lill shoulda said somethin' by now, shouldn't he've?)   
Aoibheann hadn't finished- (I see no reason for an abbreviation. Why is it that you, Black Jade, have picked up your Master's grammar and Brendan has not?)   
('Cause Dan's a stick in da mud even if he's Master's _favorite_. Hey, c'mon, speak up, Lill, I know you're there!)   
Morgan sensed that neither Aoibheann, Amaguri, or Michael was about to tell Jade (whose heart, she knew, was in the right place even if their only common bridge was Ailill) why his "best pal in two decks," as he put it, was silent, so she took it upon herself to inform him-   
(Ailill and Gabriel have gone for to see our Masters. They cannot kythe to us)   
-and got the expected reaction.   
(What the-? Lill's gone off? Good for him! But Gabe? Isn't Gabe kinda not the kind of person who'd just skip on outa the deck?)   
(He left because he was casting the spell, Black Jade. He never would have done so otherwise)   
It was obvious that Aoibheann was trying more to convince herself than convince Jade.   
(Oh, ya think that's why Master's not duelin' the Eye Guy after all?)   
For a moment the only thing on the kything lines was startled silence. Then Michael shattered it.   
(Our Masters are not dueling? Inconceivable!)   
(Oh no, Mikey, it's _real _conceivable. He was talkin' to Dan, see, an' Dan heard him-)   
Morgan interrupted, knowing he wouldn't care- (Wait, Jade, but how could Dan hear your Master? Not even Gabriel can… not even Gabriel _could_ hear ours)   
(Maybe he didn't talk to ya or somethin'. And maybe it's 'cause he _listens_ to Dan, not just talks like yours, Morgan. So Dan heard, an' he told me, it bein' pretty big news an' all)   
(Pretty big news? _Pretty big news_? Is this all this is to your frivolous little dragon mind? PRETTY BIG NEWS?)   
(Hey, if ya don't mind, Mikey- no, wait, whether ya mind or not, I could tell you some things 'bout frivolous little _knight _minds. I still can't figure how they decided to make ya the Dragon Champion of all things. Ain't a Dragon Champion supposed ta have at least a _little _bit a' tolerance for dragons?)   
(it wasn't like he had any tolerance for Jewel)   
It was a private thought; Michael hadn't heard it, but still she rebuked herself. She'd tried so hard to forget Jewel, tried not out of disrespect for him, but because if the kything line was continually filled with grief for Jewel, everyone would eventually go insane from the emotion.   
Michael_ hadn't _any tolerance for Jewel. He was so spiteful sometimes that Gabriel would take it upon himself as Master's second-favorite to give Michael a mild reprimand- Gabriel _never_ had sharp words.   
She guessed that Michael had behaved like that because Jewel was the pride and joy of the Master before the current one of this deck, the favorite (though a fat lot of good that had done him), the rarest one by a long, long shot. Not even Gabriel could hold a candle to the precious object that was what Jewel was labeled as.   
But of course Jewel was much more than a precious object.   
He almost never dueled; for the first time Morgan had met someone that shared her thirst to duel, to show their masters what they could do. But Morgan was too weak and common; Jewel was too powerful and rare. The irony.   
And of course their Masters could go on about their comfortable little philosophy about the heart of the cards (Morgan doubted they sincerely believed in the existence of her and her compatriots; it just made a handy little thing to lecture the opposition about), but still they admired the best kind of cards. And having numbers lower than Gabriel, Michael was left behind.   
But since Jewel had gone, since the deck which had all her friends had changed Masters, things had changed. Things had changed a lot. 


	6. How to meet your maker

AUTHOR'S NOTES: And in this chapter we meet Pegasus the Occasionally Violent Jerk. Pegasus fans, run for cover. I do NOT like this guy, okay?   
In a Mai Valentine vs. Bandit Keith duel, who do you think would win? I would be honored if you'd tell me your opinion on this, because I do NOT know.   
This is a bad chapter, I admit, but if you want to see bad, you ought to see what I've started of Chapter Seven. 

Chapter Six: How to meet your maker   
_15 August_ Ailill wasn't sure how long the dreams continued. He just knew that he had them.   
He had one he had never had before; considering how long he had been in the dark with nothing to do besides kythe and dream, a new one was quite a novelty.   
In this memory (most of his dreams were memories rehashed) he had been holding a sword for the first time. He'd never dreamed about that memory before; it was probably because he thought of it so much of the time, since it was his first one of Before, after all; and therefore there was nothing of that memory left hidden in his subconscious where dreams come from.   
Ailill wasn't quite sure how old he was when he had that experience; he knew he had been a child then, younger than the age of just about all of the rest, and definitely older than the young dragon who was in the same deck as Black Jade. But in this memory there was nobody he could compare his size with. In memories he always _felt_ the same size.   
In this memory his clothing was several sizes too big, and he wore no armor. The only metal about him was the sword, which he swung from side to side. It was not the same sword that he had in seeing duels; it was smaller, rusted in several places. He had found it, and then he stood there swinging it as if he was trying out some new toy, which was what he had believed it to be. He remembered staring in fascination, running his fingers over the rusty part, even cutting his arm lightly with the shiny part of the blade.   
His amusement had been cut short by a roar.   
And as he turned with fear grabbing him worse than the dungeon worm or the different dark had ever done, he stopped remembering. He also stopped dreaming.   
Ailill lay there for a while with his eyes shut, pulling himself out of the childish fear that lingered from the memory. Then he opened his eyes and assessed the situation.   
He didn't remember ever falling prey to the likes of the Shadow Spell or Kunai Whip Chain- the Masters apparently had never thought it worthwhile to waste such useful traps on him, whose numbers were so low that they could generally just destroy him with no traps at all. So he had near nothing to compare his current predicament with, except maybe the different dark, but at least that had been _quick_.   
Once again he was chained to a stone wall, but this time he was not in the body of another. And there was no way Gabriel was going to be able to release him again. The sword was gone, too, and he missed it. But did he really think they would let him keep it?   
There were two sets of chains extending from the wall, of approximately the same length. One ended in cuffs around the general area of his ankles, the other around his wrists. He got up, ignoring the screaming in his legs, and started forward. The chains tightened halfway across the room. He returned to the wall and sat down, folding his legs in front of him and wrapping his arms around them.   
He waited for something to happen. He didn't wait long. 

*** 

Seto Kaiba groaned as he yanked himself out of a highly unpleasant dream involving being throttled by a vengeful Blue Eyes White Dragon. He yelped-   
_ (like a dog yes just like a goddamn dog)_   
-as all his various injuries suddenly jumped up and made themselves very, VERY clear.   
Why had he done that to the fourth Blue Eyes? For dramatic effect, he supposed. Also, there was no way he could have all four Blue Eyes White Dragons in his deck, any more than he could have four of any other card. The rules of the game were quite clear on that point.   
Sold it? It would have fetched quite an amount… but then again, he didn't need even more money. And the whole point of getting hold of that card was to keep other people from using it against him…   
Or maybe he could have given it to Mokuba.   
He cursed softly as he thought of it. Mokuba would have been so happy to have a Blue Eyes White Dragon just like his big brother, and it wasn't as if Mokuba would use it against him. But he'd never thought of it. Stupid, stupid, stupid…   
But now was not the time to think of that long lost (regrettably) card. Now was the time to figure out how to get out of his current situation.   
Pegasus arrived before he could do much thinking.   
Oh, how Seto longed to take him on in a fair fight, Duel Monsters or physical, it didn't matter, just a duel where Pegasus wasn't allowed to use his custom-made cards, where he didn't have that goddamn eye, where Seto could beat him up big time. Where he could pay him back for daring to strip a Blue Eyes White Dragon of his pride-   
(but he at least never tore one in two)   
-but he knew it was impossible.   
And now here came that jerk he would call a monster but that would be a grave indignity to the Blue Eyes White Dragons; he was going to take the soul of Seto Kaiba once again, and this time it would hurt all the more. And this time he couldn't expect anyone to save him, couldn't expect anyone to try.   
He felt himself instinctively pushing himself flat against the wall in a futile attempt to become invisible, just like he was a child again; he heard Pegasus laughing at this exertion-   
(yes he's laughing at me acting like I'm a dog yes that's what he thinks of me just like I thought of to someone else just a goddamn dog)   
-and knew the futility of it all, so he relaxed, pretended this was just going to be a routine meeting, just like all the ones he had had with those "employees"; he pretended he was sitting on an office chair instead of cold hard stone gradually made warm but still hard by his person against it; pretended that nothing bad was going to happen, nothing out of the ordinary-   
Still he sat there with his legs sprawled before him, looking straight at Pegasus, daring himself not to be afraid.   
But he was.   
The eye began to glow. He reached out and grabbed his ankles, right around the shackle; he hung on as if his life depended on not letting go of his ankles. He forced himself to look straight at that eye, to keep on doing it. And he waited for the end.   
It didn't come.   
Seto Kaiba looked at Pegasus. He looked at himself. And he smiled.   
Absolutely nothing had happened. His soul was right where it should be. 

*** 

"But how… _how_?"   
Pegasus was pacing back and forth across a measured distance down and up the hall. He clamped one hand over the Millennium Eye, took it away, then went back to the cell door and stared at Kaiba a little more.   
Everything was coming apart and falling right down around the ears of Mr. Maximilian Pegasus. Yugi Motou and Joseph Wheeler and their fan club had left the castle quite abruptly this morning, giving absolutely no reason. The kitchen had run out of "fruit juice." Now Seto Kaiba's soul refused to go back to the card.   
And on top of all this, as King of Games he was supposed to be in attendance at the duel of the two remaining finalists this afternoon. Never mind that he'd much rather watch Funny Bunny.   
"I hate my life," he mumbled, then brightened considerably as he remembered that morning's event. 

*** 

"What is this feeling I have?"   
Mokuba (he'd introduced himself when Gabriel woke up; Gabriel hadn't returned the courtesy) looked at him. "Depends on what kind of feeling."   
"I never had this one before. It is like… there is something empty inside and the emptiness is multiplying to consume the rest of me."   
"You're hungry. Join the club." Mokuba looked back at the castle. "At least Duel Monsters don't get hungry, I think. That jerk has a lot of stuff to eat back there," he growled in a tone that Gabriel associated more with people like Ailill. "Where's food for people who really need it?   
"Thanks for saving me and everything," he said, turning back around, "um… can I call you anything else, 'sides Dark Magician?"   
"… Gabriel, I suppose."   
"Gabriel…" He spoke it as if trying it out. "Can I call you Gabe?"   
"It is 'may,' not can," Gabriel reminded him, suddenly thinking of Black Jade. "I suppose that would suffice."   
"All right," said Mokuba in a tone that made it quite clear that he thought it wasn't the time for grammar lessons. "Gabe?"   
"Yes?"   
"Where're we going?"   
(how should I know all I know is we can't go back)   
It was awful to leave behind his loyal friend, but if he went back they would be waiting. Probably they were already looking for Gabriel and Mokuba, which meant the latter had to go even faster, leave Ailill even faster.   
(why did I do this in the first place)   
"So, Yuge, where to now?"   
Gabriel stiffened, then turned quite slowly in the direction of the voice that had an uncanny resemblance to Black Jade's kythe.   
"I don't know, Joey…"   
He began to run. He heard Mokuba shouting after him, ignored it, focused on the trees rushing to meet him at ever-greater speeds, focused on only one goal, which was getting away from that voice-   
(oh master please don't don't DON'T)   
-and he was sure that Master and his friends knew, and he was good as back in the card, but still he ran, ran and hoped, the same hope he had had when he prayed for Master to defeat his opponent who cared about the virus, the same hope he had in his second seeing duel when Ailill screamed and vanished and Master called on another. He hoped and ran, hearing nothing, feeling nothing, and then, suddenly, seeing nothing. 

*** 

Mokuba opened his mouth to scream as he saw Gabriel collapse, but then hands clamped over it, killing the sound. He began to struggle, then realized they were his own hands. 

*** 

"It's a wonderful morning, isn't it, Celtic-boy?"   
Ailill lifted his head quite slowly, then when he had finished looked through the bars and tried not to be afraid, or at least not to look afraid.   
"I don't like it when people try and play dumb with me." Ailill placed the voice- it was Master's opponent in his very first seeing duel, the one who had that stupid Faceless Mage. "If you were just a child in disguise you would have been screaming to be released a long time ago. I take it you know who I am, then. Do you know what is going to happen to you?"   
Ailill just kept on staring, as if he intended to memorize every detail of that person. He continued to hug his knees, forcing himself to look straight, show no fear.   
"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"   
He kept silent. One word and he would begin to scream and cry, and then he would break, leaving a useless shell. And he would not give this creature that had made Gabriel do such a thing, who would dare imprison a child, the satisfaction of taking yet another soul.   
"I would order more official kinds of tests and such, unfortunately, far too many awkward questions would be raised. I suppose I'll have to do this informally, then." He stepped closer. "Who, exactly, was your other friend? The one who was unwise enough to jump out of a window that far up?"   
"…"   
"Speak up, I can't hear you."   
(I wasn't speaking to begin with you idiot)   
As much as he would like to say that just to see the look on his face, he didn't. Pretending to be mute could be advantageous.   
"I know you can speak, now speak!"   
And there was no way he would tell this creature who Gabriel was, that Gabriel wasn't dead.   
"Speak!"   
"…"   
"You had your chance." The voice was quite calm, cool, measured. "And you wasted it. A most foolish move, Celtic-boy."   
The door to the cell swung open. Ailill continued to stare directly into those eyes, and then his own widened involuntarily as the blow connected and his head jerked to one side. He wanted to scream.   
"Now, speak."   
Instead he let out a short cry, then held it all in, turning back and continuing to keep eye contact with a strange kind of resolve-   
(not going to do it not going to do it now not going to have this as Master not ever)   
-and he kept on doing it through two more sets of blows and commands. When the retreating footsteps were no longer audible even to his ears, then and only then did he cast his eyes down to his boots and let them fill with tears. 

*** 

Pegasus was frustrated, to say the least.   
His first ever encounter with one of the Duel Monsters whose original cards he had so carefully designed, and it had to be so… uncooperative. No respect at all. He supposed it was used to worse than the pain he had dared inflict.   
And the Millennium Eye simply refused to work.   
He had tried it on a random guard on the way, to ascertain the problem was with the eye and not with some new aspect of Kaiba-boy's soul. Not a thing had happened, besides confusing the guard. He could only see through it what other people could see through their eyes. He might as well have his original one, except for the fact that it was gold and pretty darn impressive-looking, even if it didn't do much now.   
There were another few hours until the finalists' duel. He sat down, reached for his current comic book, and flipped on the screen.   
He smiled as he saw what was taking place in the cell after his departure. Maybe this wasn't such a bad day after all.   



	7. And Then There Were Three

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Features Yugi having a major crisis of faith and acting somewhat out of character in the process. 

Chapter Seven: And Then There Were Three   
_15 August_ "Gabriel? Gabriel, are you there?"   
Gabriel wasn't quite sure where he was or how he had gotten there, but it wasn't all dark like it had been before he had left the deck. "Who is it?"   
"It's me."   
And as if to add extra emphasis to that statement, a Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared before him. Gabriel stumbled back, then relaxed. Somehow- he wasn't quite sure how, but somehow- he knew.   
"Jewel?"   
"Yes, it's me."   
Gabriel looked at Jewel. He looked at his own hands. Then he looked down at the void that seemed to be everywhere. "I must be dreaming. This cannot possibly be happening."   
"In the Shadow Realm just about anything can happen." Gabriel looked at him with wide eyes. "Just about anything, that is. The card can't be put together even in the Shadow Realm."   
"The card …"   
"It's not so bad having no card, Gabriel. You wouldn't believe how good it is not to have to hear Michael anymore." Jewel smiled, or what passed for a smile. "You wouldn't believe it."   
"Maybe I should join you, Jewel. The world of our Masters is much worse."   
"Our Masters? I have no Master but myself."   
"The one we had…"   
"… lost me to the other one. And there is no way I will accept the other one as Master. The one we had, you say? What happened to him? Who is the new one?"   
Gabriel shut his eyes for a moment and tried to figure out how to say it. "The one we had passed on the deck to the one we have now. His grandson."   
"Is he good?"   
"Yes… I suppose so."   
"You suppose so?"   
"It is hard to explain." Gabriel made a vague motion with one arm. "He is a good duelist, I know that much. But Ailill…"   
"Yes?" Jewel's large blue eyes had considerably more interest in them now. "What about Ailill?"   
"He thinks… he thinks that Master hates him. Because you see, he tended to become… destroyed quite frequently. His numbers, you see."   
"Yes, I see. But that was all?"   
"No. I wish it was."   
"Then what was the rest of it?"   
"Jewel… Master was dueling the one who destroyed your card. He had nearly lost, and his opponent had combined your siblings, and then he called on Amaguri-"   
"Amaguri?"   
Gabriel remembered that Jewel had gone before Black Jade came; therefore, he couldn't know about Sweet Chestnut. "Kuriboh. He called on Amaguri, and Amaguri says Master multiplied him so he could never be destroyed, then did something to make the dragons go black and rot. Their numbers went down. Then he called Ailill, and Ailill would have won, except…"   
"Except what?"   
"Ailill had cut off one of the heads, and then Master's opponent played Reborn the Monster so it returned and it was not black and rotten anymore. The numbers had gone back up, too."   
"But Ailill could attack before my brother, could he not?"   
"Yes, and he would have, but Master called for him to stop. Then your brother… destroyed him."   
Silence. Then at last Jewel said, "So this new Master… he actually threw the duel?"   
"It happened a short time ago." But was it really such a short time? "It was the only time Ailill came so close to winning."   
"Do you think your Master really does hate Ailill?"   
"No! I mean, I do not see why he would hate Ailill. Not for his numbers, it couldn't be for his numbers. He likes Amaguri enough, and Amaguri's numbers are even lower." Gabriel shook his head as if clearing it of such a concept. "Ailill was so sure, though, that he persuaded me to take him to the world of the Masters."   
"What happened next?"   
"I… lost him."   
"Oh." Another silence before Jewel spoke again. "Gabriel? What you did for Ailill…"   
"I did something I should not have done."   
"But you could bring him there. Could you bring me there?"   
Gabriel should have expected this request from Jewel, but still, it was quite a surprise. "What?"   
"Couldn't you do the same for me?"   
"I could not possibly put you in such danger."   
"With no danger, there is no progress." Jewel smiled just a bit. "Chihiro said that, a long time ago."   
"I see." That Jewel mentioned another Blue Eyes White Dragon did not bother Gabriel; after all they were siblings, and Chihiro was the one most like Jewel himself. "I could not do it. Not so soon."   
"I see." Just about anyone else would have turned away either out of genuine resignation or a calculated attempt to make Gabriel feel guilt. But Jewel did not. "I ought to have known. Anything that takes so much power that it cripples those isn't for me." And then he turned and began on his way off.   
Gabriel wanted to call out, tell Jewel he was sorry, but then the dark seemed to turn in on itself and fall on him in a fast collapse. 

*** 

Ailill tipped his head back and stared up at the ceiling. Solid stone as far as he could see, and it wasn't as if he was a Niwatori or one of the Harpy sisters-   
(and if I were I'd have a serious crisis)   
-and could fly up and tap them and see. It was safe to assume they were indeed stone.   
Something black embedded among the stones caught his eye. He squinted, trying to see more of it and wishing some of the sharpness of his ears would transfer to his sight. After a while he ascertained it was like another eye, looking straight at his. Like a stray part of Wall Shadow-   
(though I wish Brendan's friend was here, with that Kunai Whip Chain)   
-it was watching, though lacking the capacity to reach out and destroy him. At least, he hoped it lacked that capacity. It was probably just there to see, to make sure he didn't try biting the chains or something-   
(it's not like I have teeth like Jade has got in seeing duels no Jade wouldn't be stuck here for a minute)   
- and when he thought of Black Jade Ailill thought of Jewel, of something he had said once -   
_ (You know, my sister told me stories once about the humans who came before Masters-)_   
_ (There were people before Masters?)_   
_ (Must have been, because these hadn't got decks. They couldn't call on us to rescue them like Masters do. Whenever these people got shut into something with a locked door and chains and such all they had to do was, whenever someone came in, all they had to do, see, was knock out that someone-)_   
_ (How could they do that if they were chained up?)_   
_ (Chihiro didn't say. I think they kicked them in the leg and then hit them when their head came down. Or grabbed their necks. Or something. So, see, to get in, that person had to have a key, so these people would take the key and let themselves out. Just like that)_   
_ (And it was that easy?)_   
_ (Well, not really, but it worked something like that…)_   
-and Ailill smiled, casting his eyes back down to hide it from the eye that couldn't know _everything_.   
(Jewel, you really are a friend) 

*** 

Mokuba groaned softly and stretched all four limbs to their fullest extent. Another groan was liberated as he noted the progress the sun had made. He hadn't intended to nap for so long after he'd dragged Gabriel to someplace where Yugi & Co. would have no reason to visit.   
Then again, that meant they probably _would _visit. He just had to make sure they didn't do it when Gabriel was around. He wasn't sure why Gabriel was scared of Yugi, but there was no way Mokuba Kaiba was going to see him without first convincing Gabriel. If he just left, it would mean he didn't mean it when he said, "thanks for saving me." It would mean that he thought whatever reason Gabriel had for being afraid was stupid, even though he hadn't even heard that reason.   
But how was he supposed to actually hear that reason? Excuse me, but I noticed you're scared of Yugi, so could you please tell me why, even though I'm a stranger? Fat chance.   
What else was there to do? 

*** 

"Yuge, mind tellin' me why ya skipped out on the finals?"   
"I never said you had to come with me."   
"Someone's gotta make sure ya don't run offa cliff considerin' yer really whacked-out logic."   
"You don't understand, Joey."   
"How can ya expect me ta understand somethin' that's so incredibly dumb?"   
Téa Gardner, Tristan Taylor, and Ryou Bakura stood before the conversing pair, fulfilling their role as audience. Joey was pacing around Yugi, periodically flinging his arms into the air and performing similar gestures. It could be compared to the orbit of the Earth around the sun, except for the facts that the Earth does not talk with an accent, the Earth does not have arms to fling, and, of course, the Earth is smaller than the sun.   
"But without the Dark Magician-"   
"Then use da Summoned Skull already! Ever looked at that card? Twenty-five hundred attack! Just like the Magician!" Joey stopped his orbit (another thing the Earth does not do) and walked straight up to Yugi. "I can't believe you've broken down like this just 'cause your favorite's on vacation. Have ya listened to yourself? Ya oughta trust in da heart of da cards an' all that!"   
"But what happened to the Dark Magician could happen-"   
"_But_, it hasn't! So get back to that castle an' kick some-"   
"But- without the Dark Magician, I can't use-"   
"Yuge, da heart of da cards isn't gonna get a heart attack just 'cause you can't use some hats an' a box."   
Silence. "I don't know. I don't know what's gotten into me…"   
Téa decided she was tired of acting as audience. "Yugi, we're your-"   
"Friends. I know. But how am I supposed to duel Pegasus if the Dark Magician hated me so much he didn't even leave a picture?"   
More silence. "Oh my," said Ryou at last, "I suppose 'heart of the cards' has its flaws."   



	8. The Elf Who Learned to Wield a Sword

AUTHOR'S NOTES: First, a special thank-you to Hirotani for inspiring this chapter after I realized the plot line would not work out the way I had originally planned. Features some suggestions for Pegasus torture. Also, Haowande is Chinese for "very funny." 

Chapter Eight: The elf who learned to wield a sword   
_16 August_ "Good morning."   
In just about any other situation those words would have been a polite inanity, a forerunner to real conversation. Considering the circumstances, however, "good morning" was not at all appropriate. Ailill glared at him, not replying.   
The guards nearly tripped over each other- wait a minute, several actually did- in their rush for the doors. More than several cast anxious glances in Ailill's general direction; he had to fight a smile. He guessed they didn't like how hard he had kicked them.   
He had realized that there was no way he could use his original plan; there were just too many. But his new one definitely involved keys. Though it was going to be a different kind of key this time.   
A living key.   
"Oh my, where are my manners? I neglected to introduce myself. They all call me…."   
Ailill half-listened, then focused on the options of what could be done with his wrists chained together and his feet secured in a similar fashion. A thought occurred to him, and he had to fight yet another wide grin, which disintegrated as he felt again the emptiness that felt like it was going to consume him if he didn't do something. Not to mention his face still smarted whenever he touched a particular spot.   
Pegasus, as he called himself, had a deck on the table in front of him. He accidentally on purpose flipped the top card over, revealing a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Ailill's eyes widened despite himself.   
(Chihiro)   
"Don't worry, I didn't _steal _Kaiba-boy's deck. I _won_ it."   
"With the help of a Dragon Piper, no doubt," Ailill snapped.   
He looked surprised for a moment, then laughed. It was not at all the kind of laugh people like to hear. "Exactly. You _are_ an observant little elf, aren't you? I see you've decided to cooperate. Now, would you mind telling me exactly how you wound up in my castle?"   
Ailill chose his words carefully. "I'll tell you," he said, "after you give back my sword."   
"Trying to bargain, are you not?"   
(well I hadn't expected it to work anyway)   
He let himself smile this time. "Yes, I_ tried_." 

*** 

"Yo, Raptor."   
"Hey, Stark. Shouldn'tcha be watching those stupid screens right now?"   
"No, that's _your _job. The boss gave it to ya after that Golf guy-"   
"Croquet."   
"Whatever. That Croquet guy got the sack, so you get to do it, remember?"   
"Nah, it's _your _job. He gave it to you. You're just tryin' to pin it on me 'cause you don't feel like spending the day watching the boss read those stupid comics."   
"Don't you try and dodge outa your obligations, Raptor. At least deranged bunnies haven't got brains the size of walnuts like the ones that run in your family. Explains why you've got such a thing for dead giant lizards."   
Raptor reached for his gun. "You quit mixing me up with my idiot kid cousin right this minute, Stark, or I'll be convincing you why it's best not to!"   
"Oh, I'm so scared, the big bad dino-brain's after me…" Before the two of them could graduate to an all-out gunfight, they both sighed in exasperation and walked off in the direction of the employee cafeteria. "Anyhow, nothing ever happens anyway. Let's see if the ickatorium's got any burgers left, Raptor, the boss'll never know the difference."   
At the sound of the shout they turned and looked back at the door, then Raptor sighed and headed back down the hall. "C'mon, Stark, he probably just thinks the comic's really funny or something." 

*** 

Before Pegasus could react to the words a blur moved across the table and hands had clasped around his throat. He was tipping backward, his arms like twin windmills, and then the back of his chair struck the floor. The impact traveled into his back and he shouted. The shout was cut short by a brief tightening of the hands.   
"I ought to break your damn neck for what you did to Chihiro and the others."   
"Umm. Such an action is a little bit permanent…"   
"I know it's permanent."   
No, no, no, no, no. This was not how it was supposed to work out. He'd never imagined a Duel Monster turning on him like this. He'd anticipated some reluctance, yes, but nothing of this type. He'd never expected any one of them to actually threaten his life, let alone be in a position to carry out that threat.   
Then again, he was thinking all Duel Monsters were like his beloved Toons, happy to obey. He had never foreseen what it would be like to have to deal with such a recalcitrant sort as this Celtic Guardian.   
That oversight had gotten him in severe trouble, and with the Millennium Eye in its current state, it didn't seem he would be getting out of it anytime soon.   
"First, return my sword."   
"C-certainly," Pegasus managed to squeak out. "C-could you please get off of me?"   
He did, then proceeded to yank Pegasus up by the throat. "Now, where did you put it?" 

*** 

Seto smashed the bowl against the stone, sending rice and bits of bowl everywhere. "That'll teach them to try and poison me," he muttered, picking up one of the shards and idly scraping it against one of the shackles. After all, drops of water could wear away stone, so why couldn't ceramic wear away iron?   
"Seto Kaiba?"   
His hand opened, letting go of the shard. His head jerked up and looked through the bars of the cell, and he was extremely grateful he hadn't touched the rice. If he had, he would have thrown it all up in sheer surprise.   
Pegasus was standing there, but it hadn't been his voice. Seto wasn't sure if Pegasus even had the capacity for speech at the moment. He was sputtering like a car engine warming up, probably because of the hand gripping the front of his fancy jacket. Seto's eyes followed the hand to the wrist, which had a cuff and a ragged bit of chain about it, then the arm, enclosed in first an off-white fabric, then a green-studded silver band, and a brown fabric so tight the contours of the arm showed through. The rest of the arm vanished under a piece of green and silver armor, which connected to more sections of the same, and then his eye traveled up the neck to the face…   
This was physically impossible. No way. It couldn't be.   
But it was.   
The Celtic Guardian was currently standing outside with an apparently terrified Maximilian Pegasus in tow. "Well?" he said. "Are you Seto Kaiba?"   
A briefest moment of hesitation. "Yes."   
He proceeded to fling Pegasus to the floor, then keep him pinned with one foot as he took his time about picking the lock. When at last it swung open, he strode in with no sign of fear, dragging Pegasus along. Another long pause as he fiddled with the chains, and then they fell away. Celtic Guardian then motioned Seto away and proceeded to shut Pegasus into the vacant chains. He headed back outside, only turning back at the door to beckon Seto to come. Seto followed, having not the slightest idea what was going on but getting a definitely mixed feeling from it. 

*** 

They had left the dungeon area and were heading down the hallway, Seto still slightly dazed from the speed with which events were progressing, when Celtic Guardian abruptly turned and slammed him into the nearest wall.   
His voice was calm on the outside, but any idiot could sense the anger raging beneath. "Why'd you do that to Jewel?"   
Seto blinked, his mind sent scrambling in all directions by these abrupt turns of events. "Jewel? Who's Jewel?"   
"Oh, nothing, he was just my loyal friend, that's all. And you did that to him."   
At such a close proximity Seto could see the tears forming quite clearly. "I don't know who this friend of yours is, but I have never been accused of murder."   
"I'm accusing you. You don't really care about Chihiro, do you?"   
"Who?"   
That was most definitely the wrong question to ask.   
Celtic Guardian proceeded to grab Seto's shoulders and thrust him back into the wall with the strength that comes from fury. "You wouldn't know how much she cares about you, how much her brothers care about you. Did you think they wanted to be used against you?"   
He blinked and it clicked into place. "They have names?"   
Celtic Guardian gave him a look that made it clear that was another wrong question. "Well, if they were all just called 'Blue Eyes White Dragon' it would get a _little _bit confusing."   
"Does that mean this 'Jewel' of yours was…"   
"He is not mine. You wouldn't know how much he wanted to be someone's and now he isn't anyone's, no thanks to you."   
Suspicions confirmed. Seto's worry had been growing by the second, and after the confirmation of this knowledge it tripled. He opted for silence. 

*** 

(Chihiro?)   
They had kythed back and forth between the two decks only on special occasions- she supposed the animosity of the Masters had leaked through to the decks- but still she recognized that voice. She began to call the others.   
(Sapphire!)   
(What is it, older sister? Has Master come back?)   
Chihiro smiled along the kything line, glad Sapphire still retained some of that little-brother-ness, glad he hadn't become completely like Haku. She paused as the newcomer gave her an information dump, then-   
(Yes. Master is back, Sapphire, and he has a question for us)   
(Well, older sister, what's the question?)   
(He wants to know what we think he should do to Pegasus)   
(Oh, wow!)   
(And since when could Master speak to us?)   
Chihiro groaned inside as she recognized Haku's characteristics infused in the kythe-   
(He can't)   
(Then how did you know he wants us to answer this question, little sister?)   
Her exasperation was growing by the moment. Hadn't he got it through his skull yet that Chihiro was every bit as old as he was, and maybe a bit older? (He's using an intermediary, little brother)   
(And who might this intermediary be?)   
(Ailill. The Celtic Guardian)   
(You're joking. That damned excuse for a warrior? The likes of him are but bothersome trash to our Master)   
Chihiro snapped out her retort without thinking- (And if our Master had had more of that "bothersome trash" in the deck, then he could have defeated the real trash)   
(You blame Master for the loss? You really had me fooled, little sister. I thought you were loyal-)   
(I am loyal!)   
The shout disturbed everyone in the deck, as well as Ailill. Chihiro cut off all kything lines for a moment while she recovered from her outburst- (There is not exactly a very wide selection of intermediaries, little brother. Besides, if he's good enough for Jewel he's good enough for us. Go ahead, Ailill, tell him what Master said)   
Ailill repeated the query, and Sapphire was the first to respond- (Put him in a card like he did Master's brother, and put him on the field, and let me blast him! And then use Reborn the Monster so I can blast him again!)   
Haowande, the only one in the deck who could qualify as Haku's "bothersome trash," spoke then- (Lock him in a closet with me!)   
Sapphire responded immediately- (You're that annoying, Haowande? Clowns are supposed to be funny)   
Haku even made his own contribution- (Transform him into something with numbers over fifteen hundred, and then use Crush on him like he did us!)   
After the echoes of Haku's kythe died away, Ailill kythed again- (Chihiro, what do you think?)   
And Chihiro could feel the mental smiles all around as she spoke- (Stuff him in a big jar, and then pipe very annoying music into the jar!)   



	9. Magic Tricks

AUTHOR'S NOTES: My reviews go on to three pages! Yayyy!   
I'm not quite sure about the rules of the card game regarding Flip Effects, but I'm pretty sure it says you can't switch a monster's position twice in one turn. I swear sometimes I think it was written in Japanese and then translated into English by someone who only spoke Chinese.   
A deus ex machina is someone or something popping in at the last minute when all seems lost to switch everything around; it's called that because, apparently, a lot of old Greek plays ended with the gods coming down and solving all the problems. A deus ex machina is death to good fiction, so I've heard.   
So far nobody's responded on the Mai vs. Keith question, so I'm going with Mai, 'cause Keith's annoying. 

Chapter Nine: Magic Tricks   
_16 August_ Mokuba Kaiba sat cross-legged on the grass near the tree and carefully peeled the orange he had gotten from said tree, stuffing the peels into his pocket. When he had finished the procedure, he pulled the orange into segments and popped one into his mouth, balancing the rest on his legs. He remained in this position for a time; only after the segment was sucked dry did he chew, swallow, and reach for another one. "How's yours?"   
Gabriel looked at him with wide eyes and held out his own orange. It was completely intact. "How am I to…"   
Mokuba sighed. "All right…"   
One hour, four oranges, and much exasperation on Mokuba's part later, Gabriel had finally eaten an entire orange without forgetting to peel it or accidentally spitting it out. He promptly had two more, then stretched out under the tree. He was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of no emptiness-   
(I think this way I can do it for Jewel sooner)   
-when Mokuba shouted, "Hey! Who're you?" And as he got up he heard the response.   
"Someone who is going to teach you why it's not such a good idea to tamper with Millennium Items." 

*** 

Yami Bakura smiled grimly as he noted the somewhat outrageous situation before him. The ground was strewed with orange peels, and the Dark Magician had remains of oranges down the front of his robes. He looked somewhat like a human child. Mokuba Kaiba was standing beside him, looking at Yami Bakura with wide eyes-   
(does he think I'm the deus ex machina or something?)   
-and then he shouted, "What are you talking about? What do you mean Millennium Items?"   
"I'll tell you." He had arranged his deck beforehand, the moment he became aware of the presence, so he could get the card he wanted without any awkward flipping through. Yami Bakura held it up so that they could see (he already knew) and his grin widened. "No, wait, I'll show you." He felt the power of the Ring backing him once more, and began to laugh. It still had the exact same power he needed, when he needed it. When he reached for this power he did not find himself trying to hold nothingness; it was there, as strong as it always was. "I summon Man-Eater Bug!" 

*** 

He had stood there with his eyes shut, holding the deck, for a considerable amount of time, only once opening those eyes and asking Seto if he had anything to ask them. Seto had replied with the first thing that came to mind; when he thought about it, it was quite a reasonable question considering Pegasus was currently down where the creep had locked up Mokuba.   
(what goes around comes around huh)   
For the rest of the hour he stood there as if his soul had been zapped and watched Celtic Guardian communicating with the other cards.   
At last the deck was placed back on the table, and he turned back to Seto. "Chihiro thinks you should stuff him in a jar and make him listen to annoying music."   
Seto understood and laughed for just a moment; then the laughter died as he remembered being pinned against the wall and the anger sealed in Celtic Guardian's voice and eyes. He took another look at those eyes and supposed there was something to letting things out after all, since Celtic Guardian now looked much less inclined to kill him.   
Pegasus had left on the table a very large, intact breakfast, which, while it had cooled off, hadn't gone bad yet. Seto looked at it and felt completely disgusted with himself as he felt saliva make its presence in his mouth very known. Out of the corner of the eye that wasn't focused on the food he saw Celtic Guardian looking at it as well, with an expression balancing between misgiving and a frantic wanting-needing that was probably much like Seto's own expression.   
"You have it." Seto bet he had jumped at least a foot out of sheer surprise at both the speaking and the words that were spoken. "I'll find my own."   
(so if Pegasus poisoned it I get the poison huh)   
He laughed at that thought, then as the door shut he sat down, seized a fork and jammed it into the scrambled eggs. After the first bite he'd had for who-knew-how-many days all control that remained immediately fled for cover. For the next ten minutes Seto Kaiba ate like a dog and didn't care in the least.   
Shortly after he had done and discomfiture had begun to set in, Celtic Guardian entered with a bizarre assortment of foods (everything from grain cereals to hamburgers to candy bars) and threw it down on the table. Seto heard his voice ask, "You didn't have any trouble?"   
"Some." Whereupon he attacked the food-   
(guess it has zero attack points)   
-and Seto Kaiba engaged himself with getting some of the stains out of his coat, comforting himself with the fact that there was no way his table manners had been as bad as those being currently displayed by Celtic Guardian. 

*** 

Mokuba Kaiba at first thought and hoped that their hoped-for "rescuer" was merely a lunatic. One look at the Man-Eater Bug convinced him otherwise. All of a sudden he remembered looking through the cards in his birthday pack-   
_ "Seto, is this a good one?"_   
_ "No. It's not."_   
_ "Really? But what about the effect?"_   
_ "It destroys one monster on the field, true. And what happens after this effect has been carried out? The opponent summons another monster, destroys this one, and in all likelihood nearly obliterates your Life Points because this one has such a rotten attack power. It's not worth it, Mokuba. Not worth it."_   
-and then he called himself back to present time, and the current situation.   
And there was absolutely no way he could just summon another monster. How was he supposed to? He had no idea how to get cards to be real, and he didn't think Gabriel had enough time to give him a lesson before the Man-Eater Bug went for the only other Duel Monster in sight.   
But this one was not as substantial as Gabriel was. Mokuba could look through Man-Eater Bug and see a green-tinted version of what was behind it. Not quite as real as Gabriel. That, at least, could help in some way… now if only he knew how.   
He jerked, blinked and rubbed his eyes, staring at the position the Bug been placed in. Mokuba had never actually seen a Man-Eater Bug dueling before, but he knew defense mode when he saw it.   
Of course. The effect activated when it was switched to attack mode. Which would be next turn.   
(bet he doesn't play by turns anyway)   
And Mokuba's suspicions were confirmed when he saw the one with the strange eyes holding the card horizontally. Within moments he flipped it upright. "Now, Man-Eater Bug…"   
Gabriel had gone all pale and stiff and staring. Mokuba had to kick him the shin to get his attention. Then he looked up and shouted, "He was supposed to wait until next turn to change position! He doesn't have to play by the rules, neither do you!"   
Gabriel understood. He swung his staff so it pointed toward Man-Eater Bug; no words announcing the attack were necessary as for a moment the world seemed to be thrown into photographic negatives. Then it was screaming and stumbling back; there was no tactful little dissolve like with the dueling machines. Mokuba was spared the majority of the disgusting sight by the dark that obscured his vision, but he could see enough to feel queasy. Enough to feel justified in screaming, too. And behind his scream he could hear, "Bakura! Bakura, what's going on? What happened?"   
Afterwards all time seemed to scramble into a big lump and the last clear images were Gabriel collapsed on the grass and Yugi Motou running towards them looking like a late deus ex machina. 

*** 

This was the first meal Ailill had had for a time; either over a thousand years or a single day, depending on how you counted it. Either way, he was hungry.   
Hunger- he hadn't thought of it as something physical for quite a while. Morgan could be hungry to duel; he himself could be hungry to win a duel; he'd never thought of himself as simply hungry for a long time. Now he did.   
He'd run into little trouble. Most of the guards had backed off as soon as he began for his sword; Ailill hadn't even had to draw it. There were some that tried further; Ailill asked them if they knew where their Master was, and that trouble, too, had gone very quickly. He'd simply gone in, picked up a little of everything that looked interesting (which was most of it), then returned to the chamber. At least he had kept enough self-control to keep from devouring it right in the hallway.   
Those of Ailill's memories that were relatively clear did not include memories of eating, but some of his more obscure ones did, and he guessed he remembered more than he had thought from those. But what he didn't remember was how good it felt to eat when he was hungry.   
Ailill began with a thing that had brown and green and red (he couldn't remember the exact words, if he'd ever known them) between white and soft. He took a large bite. He took another bite before he was even half through with the first, then another. And another.   
It was finished shortly, whereupon he attacked the next one that caught his eye. Ailill went on like this until there was nothing left but inedible things and crumbs. As he departed the frenzy he turned and saw Seto Kaiba using a computer. After a few seconds Seto Kaiba turned and looked at him. "Well," he said, "someone should tell this 'Mai Valentine' why Pegasus can't duel her today." 

*** 

"Christ, just because he's the maker of Duel Monsters isn't an excuse to keep me waiting half an hour!" Mai Valentine pulled out a magazine and began to skim it. "I think even Joey Wheeler's more punctual." She yawned and began to read an article for the thirtieth time; she was interrupted by footsteps. She looked up and blinked. No way. This was some kind of hallucination induced by too much magazine reading.   
But none of the magazines she subscribed to, though they definitely spoke of the adolescent CEO/Duel Monsters World Champion, talking about any duelists who dressed as the Celtic Guardian. Hell, she couldn't remember them mentioning the Celtic Guardian at all.   
She asked the first thing that came to mind. "Where's Pegasus? Watching cartoons?"   
Kaiba grinned; it was strange to see him grinning. "He wishes." The grin, if it was possible, widened. "Pegasus is unavailable for dueling."   
"And who the hell-" she indicated the figure next to Kaiba- "are you?" Those brown eyes and those pointed ears unnerved Mai; she found herself fingering her deck as if to reassure herself that it was still there.   
"My name is Ailill."   
Mai arranged herself, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "So, he doesn't show up, he loses by default. When do I get the three million?"   
"Sorry," said Kaiba, "but I haven't been able to get into his bank account yet. And like I said, he's unavailable for dueling. I think _he's_ available, though."   
Ailill's eyes were wide for a moment, then he spun to face Kaiba. "There's no way," he growled, "that I'm going to use that stupid deck with the stupid Dragon Piper at all. And not in a seeing duel."   
"Then use mine." Kaiba's mouth had returned more or less to normal after the lengthening of his grin; otherwise it would have popped out of his face and landed on the floor. "Maybe then you'll see how hard it is to keep from losing monsters." He held out a deck.   
Ailill glared at him and took it. "Maybe you'll see how easy it is to win without threatening to jump to your death." He turned to Mai. "Master of the Harpies, do you want to duel?"   



	10. Part Three: Give it up, 'cause now I'm b...

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Some people might be upset because I kind of cop out on the Mai vs. Ailill. Well, I don't know that much about the decks of Seto Kaiba or Mai Valentine, so it's insurance against making a story-wrecking blunder.   
For those who were wondering about the title: The idea for this story came from the movie _Blade Runner_, which in turn came from the book by Philip K. Dick, _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? _I don't own the rights to the book or the movie. And I definitely don't own Philip K. Dick.   
This chapter features Téa bashing. 

Part Three: Object of the Game   
Chapter Ten: Give it up, 'cause now I'm back   
_16 August_ "Yugi?"   
"Yes, what is it, Mokuba?"   
"Why's he scared of you?"   
Yugi turned and looked at him with wide amethyst eyes. "He was scared of me?"   
Mokuba nodded emphatically. "Uh-huh. When he heard you he ran so hard he tripped and knocked himself out, that's how scared he was."   
"Oh. That's a relief."   
"How so?"   
"At least now I know he doesn't hate me."   
"You know, Yugi, you can hate someone and be scared of 'em at the same time."   
"Yeah." Yugi's hair suddenly seemed to shadow the upper half of his face. "Good point, Mokuba."   
"But I don't think Gabriel hates you, either."   
"Thanks." Then Yugi realized the name that he had expected to be Dark Magician, or maybe just Dark.   
(but really who would call themselves Dark Magician)   
"That's his name?"   
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, Gabriel, like the angel." 

*** 

Gabriel's first act upon gaining consciousness was to sit up and turn his head left and right with wide staring eyes that made him appear much, much younger than he actually was. Those eyes saw Mokuba standing near a tree as if trying to grow into it. They saw Ryou Bakura sprawled out unconscious, devoid of the Ring. When they found Yugi Motou he scrambled into a kneeling position and tilted his neck downward. "Master…"   
The puzzle glowed. "Stop that," said Yami. He fell silent. "I'm not going to hurt you. Get up." Gabriel got to his feet and stood before Yami, still keeping his head down. "Tell me something… your name is Gabriel?" A nod. "Why would you think I would hurt you?"   
The nearby grass began to grow damp. Gabriel's head jerked up and his eyes looked like they wanted to metamorphose into lakes but hadn't the capacity. Yami speculated that a river could be filled with what came from those eyes. "I abandoned you, Master."   
"You did not." Yami was still trying to convince himself of the truth of those words. "Actually, you are worthy of praise. You saved Mokuba."   
"I am not even worthy of insults."   
"That is because you have done nothing to be insulted for. I never told you not to leave, did I?"   
Silence. "No, you did not."   
"There, you see? At least you didn't _dis_obey."   
"Thank you, Master." He was clearly trying to decide whether to risk saying more. "Master, Ailill…"   
"Who?" Something clicked together in Yami's mind; he grabbed the deck and shuffled through it. Sure enough, another blank spot where a picture should have been. The title and statistics were still there, and from that he knew.   
(Yugi, why didn't you tell me the Celtic Guardian had gone blank too?)   
(I'm sorry, I guess I never noticed. I was so upset about the Dark Magician I never thought to check…)   
"Master?"   
Yami looked up. "What happened to him?"   
Gabriel looked down again. "Ailill was trying to hold them off so I could get Mokuba out." He used his staff to indicate the castle. "I lost him."   
Yami didn't speak or move for several minutes due to his extreme trepidation. When he regained these abilities, he turned and ran for the castle. 

*** 

Ailill turned around and looked at Seto Kaiba on the balcony above. "You see how easy it is to win without making suicide threats?" He didn't bother to wait for the reply, instead collecting the cards on the field and returning them to the deck. Not one of those cards was a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and he was glad.   
He had done much better than he had thought he would. From his experience he had pieced together some of the basic rules. The Master of Black Jade (though Jade hadn't arrived at the time) had gone against the Master of Harpies in the past, and the stories of these battles were known, so he had some knowledge of her strategy. He knew about the rules regarding numbers, too, and the virus that had defeated Michael in the last duel, and this knowledge added up had paid off very well once he played the role of a Master. In this case, a temporary master.   
He held the deck in his hand and felt Tara kything; she was Aoibheann's cousin and he had never known her very well.   
(but why did you use Reborn on me? I couldn't do anything)   
And he smiled as he sent a kythe back.   
(so if he exaggerates you can tell everyone of it)   
(thank you for not just sacrificing me like the Master before did)   
Thank you.   
"Excuse me." Seto Kaiba now stood before him, holding out a hand. Ailill kythed one more time and transferred the deck to that hand. But he hadn't finished yet. "Are you… I mean, were you Yugi Motou's-"   
"Kaiba!"   
Both of them looked up at the balcony. "Speak of the devil," Kaiba muttered. 

*** 

Seto Kaiba was standing below, holding a deck. He looked up at Yugi and muttered something. Yugi's attention was quickly jerked from Kaiba to the figure next to him.   
Celtic Guardian, or, as Dark Magician said, Ailill.   
He looked much the same as the hologram, except a little more disheveled, not to mention the cuffs with the ragged bits of chain and the bruise on one side of his face. He looked up in the same way Kaiba did, and his surprised expression quickly turned into open animosity.   
CRASH!   
"Now this is da way to travel!"   
"Yeah, Joey, well, you're not the one who crashed into the wall 'cause he took away the bubble before he made us stop!"   
"Aw, Tristan, quit whining!"   
"Whining? Why you-"   
"Guys," Yugi broke in, "stop."   
"Hey," Téa shouted, "it's Mai! Hello! Mai!"   
Mai looked up. "Pegasus flaked out," she informed them, "and left this to duel me."   
Yugi nodded, then blinked. "Mai… you- lost?" She nodded very shortly. "That's all right. Not many people can beat Kaiba."   
"You don't understand. It wasn't Kaiba. It was the other one. All he had was the same deck. He didn't even use one of the Blue Eyes. And he. Beat. Me. He beat me fair and square, worse than that Panic did, though I have to admit, at least this one was less smug about it."   
Yugi blinked again, then turned to Gabriel, who was apologizing to Tristan. "Gabriel?"   
"At least you bothered to learn his name."   
Yugi jerked. Celtic Guardian hadn't stopped looking at him. "Celtic Guardian?"   
"Ailill!" Gabriel had run to the edge of the balcony and was leaning over. "Ailill, he doesn't hate you."   
"Gabriel, I know you don't want to hear it, but he does."   
Yugi figured out who "he" was. "Celtic Guardian, I don't hate you!"   
"That's what you _say_. I'm sorry, Gabriel, but you're wrong. He does." Fists clenched and the upper part of Celtic Guardian's face became shadowed. A tear trickled out of the shadow, followed by another one. And another. "If he had cared at all he would have let me win at least once!"   
(Do you remember any time when Celtic Guardian won a duel?)   
(No, Yugi, I only remember the time he almost won one)   
(yeah but almost winning isn't really winning)   
Téa had joined Yugi and Gabriel at the balcony, and she decided to launch into her Intended-To-Be-Inspirational Sermon No. 949. "Yugi believes in the Heart of the Cards and he would never hate-"   
"Shut up."   
Téa gasped- for a moment Yugi thought she was going to faint, and he ran to her. He couldn't remember the last time someone had been so blunt in telling Téa they weren't interested in listening.   
"What would you know about Heart of the Cards? You're the one that won't let Morgan duel! Even though she's your so-called favorite you won't let her duel!"   
Téa blinked. "Morgan?" Then she seemed to understand. "But…"   
"But nothing. And you-" More tears began to come; Yugi was reminded of Gabriel. "-you were the one who told him to stop."   
And then Yugi understood. For a moment he wasn't even sure he could breathe.   
(What's the matter, Yugi?)   
(Oh God… it's because I told him not to attack Kaiba's Blue Eyes and then the next turn-)   
(By Ra, Yugi, no wonder he thinks you hate him)   
(But I don't!)   
(He thinks you do. Perception is everything)   
He tried, cautiously, as if reaching out for a last straw. "Please…"   
"You didn't really believe at all."   
(yes he's right if I really did believe there was a heart of the cards then it stood to reason there'd be a mind too)   
"I'm sorry." 

*** 

Ailill blinked. There was no way he had really heard what he had just heard. Wishful thinking; he had an awful lot of wishes, after all. There was no way a Master just said that. But he had.   
"I'm sorry." And now he was saying it again, clinging to the balcony railing, quivering like a structure about to collapse. "I should have known. I should have known!" Ailill stared upward. They called him Yugi; Yugi had let go of the balcony railing to slide down, sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Gabriel was walking over and holding out one hand. Yugi let Gabriel help him up; he looked like a strange puppet. "I should have known. No wonder he hates me."   
"I don't hate you, Master!" Gabriel cried, though he must have known who was really meant.   
(he means me and yes I think I do hate him)   
"I didn't mean you, Gabriel." And then he was running; Ailill took his gaze downward. After a while Yugi emerged from the hall that blended into the path to the dueling station, and he ran right past Seto Kaiba who was holding the deck and watching the goings-on with considerable interest and stopped in front of him. He looked straight at Ailill for the first time since forever, and those eyes were like jewels in water and all of the anger seemed to just go. "Please forgive me."   
(I think I don't really hate him after all) 

*** 

Gabriel hung on to the balcony railing; otherwise, he felt, he might gyrate away into the Shadow Realm out of sheer elation.   
He was right. Ailill his friend was wrong, and this time wrong was for the better.   
Master did not hate Ailill. Gabriel had known that, believed that. And he was right.   
Now Master was standing in front of Ailill, saying, "Please forgive me." And even though Gabriel felt like squirming when he thought of Master asking for forgiveness, he kept quiet because he knew it was for the best. Ailill was looking at Master with the strangest expression, biting his lip and shifting a slightly larger bit of his weight to one foot, then the other.   
"I don't know…"   
"I'm sorry about the Blue Eyes. I should have known."   
Gabriel looked on with the initial euphoria mostly burned off and anxiety screaming inside of him as Ailill very slowly reached out one hand toward Master's shoulder; Gabriel knew it was to comfort. And he was opening his mouth, ready to say two words that were the only thing really needed to bring everything together where it should be.   
"I understand," Ailill didn't say. It all shattered at the last possible moment.   
"Yugi, it's his fault, not yours!" Gabriel jerked and stared at Téa Gardner, who was leaning over the railing and shouting downward.   
"Yugi, he should be ashamed of himself for saying you should treat him special. Is it your fault his attack power stinks? He's standing there telling you Kaiba should have died, just for his ego, and you're agreeing with him?"   
Gabriel felt something move through his mind.   
"He's the one who should be saying he's sorry, for ever saying you're a bad duelist!"   
Anyone who knew Ailill would know those were all the wrong things to tell him.   
The hand jerked away from the shoulder as if they were both positive magnets. Ailill looked up at Téa with that hostile look back in his eyes.   
"I never asked to get treated special," he said in a voice that if it was translated into actions would make all the duels Gabriel had gone through seem tame. "All I asked was for him to let me win for once. You say I deliberately made my numbers low! You say I have no right to ever win anything! You sound just like Michael with his 'heresy'!"   
(I suppose there's no getting her to play me on Ailill's say-so)   
Gabriel jerked and touched one hand against his head.   
(Morgan?)   
(Yes, 'tis me, Gabriel)   
(How can you-)   
(I reached a kything line a little further, is all. I reached right through you for a little while. I heard her then)   
(Ailill was about to understand about Master and then she…)   
(Why must she always interfere with Ailill's affairs?)   
Ailill had turned, and was now walking away. "I don't have to listen to your sanctimonious junk one minute more."   
Too late, Gabriel ran down to join Yugi and Kaiba. He couldn't let Ailill go like that. He heard Brendan's Master say from above, "Um, Téa? I don't think that speech worked out real well."   
"He's right." Everyone looked at Seto Kaiba, who was now glaring up at Téa. "If you must blame someone, the best one to blame is me or, best of all, yourself."   
"But Kaiba," said Yugi, "I was the one who told him to stop."   
Kaiba smiled grimly. "And who told you to stop? That's right," he added as Yugi's gaze wandered to Téa for a moment before he jerked it back. "It isn't like cards choose to have low attack power, after all. It isn't like they choose much of anything most of the time."   
Yugi looked away. "Point taken, Kaiba. But what do I do now?"   
And then he knew what to do. "Master?"   
Yugi turned to Gabriel. "Don't call me Master, okay?"   
"Could I see-?"   
Yugi nodded and held out the deck. Gabriel shuffled through, finding it near what would be the top of the deck if it were face down. He checked the numbers. They were about right. And of course there was no picture.   
(Morgan?)   
(Yes?)   
(Is there any chance you could send out a line for Jewel?)   



	11. Mind of the Cards

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the next-to-last chapter. I have a string-tying one slated for the last one, if anyone's interested. I have nothing against heavy metal; it just seemed like the kind of music Pegasus wouldn't like. 

Chapter Eleven:   
Mind of the Cards   
_16 August_ Ailill wasn't sure how long he continued to run. Everyone he encountered got out of his way and got out of his way fast. It was no time before he had departed the castle, gone through a random door, and found himself in a room he had seen before, but never from this point of view.   
_ "Wall Shadow! Attack Celtic Guardian now!"_   
_ "Kunai Whip Chain!"_   
It was thankfully devoid of the speakers this time. Ailill walked over to the opponents' end of the dueling field, then climbed onto it and sat down where the entrance to the maze used to be, where he had begun that duel, pulling his knees up to his chin and staring across. Somehow he had trouble believing this was at all the same field. After all, the maze was gone. No seeing duel was taking place.   
_ "He's the one who should be saying he's sorry, for ever saying you're a bad duelist!"_   
Right then Ailill wanted more than anything else to let Haku blast him again, and let it be permanent this time. 

*** 

(Jewel? Jewel, are you there?)   
Morgan could sense the incredulity all around her. After all, Jewel was gone.   
But Gabriel had asked her to at least call for him, and by whatever was necessary, Morgan was going to do it. She. Would. Do. It.   
(Jewel?)   
(Morgan?)   
And to herself she thought- (yes yes yes yes yes)   
(Yes, it be me. Jewel, Gabriel needs you)   
(How so?)   
('Tisn't right that you shouldn't have a card, Jewel, and Gabriel's going to fix it)   
(He can't put mine back together, can he?)   
(No, but there's an extra one, and he can put you in it if you want to)   
(All right then)   
And then she reached out with a firmer kything line, took it to Jewel, and at the same time flung the other end so that it twined down the one she had sent to Gabriel, so she was only holding the middle, and then Morgan let go. 

*** 

Everyone had gathered around Gabriel, who was barely aware of them. He could sense Morgan removing herself from the line, so now it was just Jewel on the other end.   
(Gabriel you could do it)   
(I am not certain yet but I think there is a chance. But Jewel, the numbers might not go up to fit you)   
(I don't want high numbers anyway. The high numbers were why the Master before didn't use me, why Michael didn't like me)   
The card in Gabriel's hand began to glow, as did the puzzle. Gabriel focused even harder, yanked on the kything line and pulled Jewel closer to him, closer to the card.   
(Jewel, prepare yourself)   
(I already did)   
(I will perform the spell on three. One…)   
Yugi's wide eyes, if that was possible, got even wider. Mokuba Kaiba put both hands before his face, palms outward.   
(Two…)   
(oh no not going to make it not going to make it not going to make it)   
Then he felt Morgan taking hold of the kything line again. No, not taking hold, exactly; more like she had tied another line to this one, closer to Gabriel. He felt others attaching themselves to Morgan's line, adding their force to his pull. Aoibheann, Black Jade and Brendan, Amaguri, Chihiro and Sapphire, others whose names he did not know.   
He drew Jewel still closer, and the glow of the card grew even brighter. Gabriel shut his eyes and took a firmer grip on the card and the kything line and felt all the force that was with him and put all of it into one final pull.   
(THREE!)   
He felt like his mental hands were suffering major rope burn, not to mention dislocation. He felt as if he was being forced to hold a burning iron rod. It seemed as if everyone in the world was screaming for one moment, and then everything was silent.   
Gabriel felt the floor against his knees; he couldn't recall when he had begun to kneel. He could hear Yugi call, "Gabriel, are you okay?" And the voices along the kything line-   
(Hey, Gabe. Ya feelin' okay?)   
(Gabriel, are you all right?)   
(Gabriel, 'tis my fault if you are harmed)   
-they wouldn't go away and even though he knew they meant it for the best, they bothered him. Then Chihiro's kythe came, worried- (Dark Magician, you'd better not have misplaced Jewel after all the help we've given you, or you'd better not come back!)   
Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at the card in his hand. He reached out with the other one, took hold of the edges, and flipped it face up. He smiled.   
(Don't worry, Chihiro, I didn't misplace him)   
And now Yugi and his friends were crowding around, gaping at the sight. The card now had a picture, though not the original. The words at the top no longer said Celtic Guardian, the name they had given Ailill. The fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon, on the surface just like the other three; but he knew better. He would never mistake Jewel for Haku or Sapphire. It was something in his heart that told Gabriel the difference.   
There was also the other fact about the card that hadn't changed.   
He shoved the card hand out in Yugi's general direction. "Get this to Ailill," he gasped. "He'll understand when he sees it. Just get it to him." With that he suddenly didn't feel strong enough to do anything besides breathe. Everything seemed to go limp, and the last thing he saw was a shifting design. 

*** 

Ailill wasn't sure how long he sat there, replaying in his mind every detail of the seeing duel in which he had participated, and all the ones before that. There was only one after that.   
At least then nobody but the opponents could have known the dungeon worm would get him. Not even Gabriel could have known; he was too busy rescuing Brendan. Not that Ailill blamed him for that; nobody could have known the worm would go for him first.   
Then again, he should have guessed it would. His numbers were the lowest of all of them in the maze. Besides, he always got the impossible battles.   
"What is this, dat Brothers Paradox thing?"   
Ailill nearly fell right off the field.   
"Yes, Joey, I think it is."   
"So where'd the Brothers Paradox get to, then?"   
"You know, Joey, even _they_ have to take a break once in a while."   
"Oh, right. Sorry for buggin' ya, Yuge."   
Ailill looked up to see Black Jade's Master (he knew mostly because he talked like Jade), who had just turned to look straight at him. The latter spoke first. "Hey, um, what's your name again?"   
"Ailill."   
"Cool. Hey, Yuge, remember Gabe said we were supposed ta' show him dat card?"   
Yes, a whole awful lot like Black Jade.   
And now this child he had once called Master and who everyone else called Yugi was walking forward, holding out a card. "Dark Magician said to get this to you. He said you'd understand."   
Ailill stepped off the field and walked toward him, cautiously, half expecting him to take out a Kunai Whip Chain and force him to return to the dark. But instead he just held the card out even further.   
Ailill took it and flipped it face up. One moment later he was holding it close to his eyes, which were widening by the moment.   
Jewel had gotten another card. He suspected it was one of the two Gabriel and he had vacated.   
(oh well they were put to good use I guess)   
Because after all Jewel didn't want to see all the time. All Jewel wanted was to be someone's. And now he was again.   
Only, something wasn't the same.   
The numbers- yes, that was it, the numbers. Attack fourteen hundred, defense twelve hundred. Less than half the number Jewel ought to have, as a Blue Eyes White Dragon. And then Ailill realized-   
(they're MY numbers!)   
-and he almost fell over out of sheer dismay. The numbers wouldn't change to fit, and now Jewel was consigned to the same fate he had thought would be his; Jewel would be the one to never win a duel.   
(Why does it always have to be this way)   
(Don't worry, Ailill)   
Ailill nearly dropped the card.   
(Jewel is that you)   
(Who did you think it was, Chihiro? Don't worry about the numbers. It's an honor to have the numbers of a friend like you. Only people like Michael wouldn't want the numbers of a friend like you. Numbers haven't got anything to do with anything that matters)   
A thought jumped into Ailill's mind, and he smiled at it.   
(Now you are very special, Jewel)   
(How so?)   
(Because there are three Blue Eyes Dragons with the same numbers. You're the only one with these numbers. You're one of a kind)   
(So are you, Ailill. Everyone's one of a kind. Michael's uniquely annoying)   
(I'll say he's annoying)   
"Ya know, that's quite a point he got there, Yuge."   
"What do you mean, Joey?"   
Ailill dropped the kything line to stare at Joey and Yugi; the puzzle around the neck of the latter was still glowing. "Sorry if it was supposed to be private," said Yugi, "but Yami found out something else the puzzle could do, and he decided to test it out."   
"Are ya even listenin' ta' me, Yuge? You're the only duelist ever to have a fourteen-hundred-attack Blue Eyes!"   
"Technically, Joey, Jewel isn't mine."   
Jewel decided to add something- (I guess that's true. The last master didn't pass me on with everyone else)   
Sapphire's kythe (Ailill suspected he did it deliberately) echoed around the room- (Hey, older sister!)   
(Yes, Sapphire?)   
(If older brother Jewel has different numbers, does that make him a different kind? Does that mean Master can use him now?)   
Joey flailed his arms. "Nuh-uh! No way Yugi's just gonna hand this card to Kaiba… um, you wouldn't would ya, Yuge?"   
Yugi laughed. "No, Joey, I wouldn't. Because you see… do I really need to explain?"   
"Oh, no, heart of the cards an' everythin', that's right."   
"Who are these in the duelists' sanctum?"   
"The art of dueling has hit rock bottom!"   
Joey nearly hit his head on the "rock bottom" of the floor. "Oh no, just who we don't need ta mess up da happy reunion, 'sides of course Téa makin' another speech like da last one. I think she's really lost her touch. An' I'm not sure if these two rhymin' idiots ever had a touch."   
"Enough of your sneers!"   
"For we are your worst fears!"   
Ailill felt the Sweat Drop of Annoyance™ form on the back of his head. "I hope you brought the decks. I think they want a seeing duel."   
"Well, they're not getting one."   
"Yah, that's for sure, Yuge."   
(That's for sure, Lill)   
Ailill turned to Joey, who nodded while looking somewhat baffled, probably from hearing someone who sounded so much like him. They both looked at Yugi, who grabbed the puzzle; it began to glow even brighter.   
The rhyming brothers blinked and stared at the three who were grinning like crazy people. They had no warning when Black Jade screamed a kythe directly at them. Ailill knew when it connected because they grabbed their heads, shrieked in unison (Ailill wondered briefly if shrieks could rhyme) and then burst out of the room.   
"What was that word?" asked Yugi.   
"I don't know, Yuge, but boo it wasn't."   
Jade was laughing too hard to answer for a while.   
(Time Wizard)   
Yugi and Joey spoke at the same time. "Time Wizard?"   
(Yah, Time Wizard. I ought ta' try shoutin' it at Mikey sometime, maybe it'll work on him, too. Though maybe Rex Raptor'll work better)   
They all laughed at that. Jade was the first to remember.   
(Shouldn't you be headed back to seeing duel the Eye Guy now?)   
"That's a very good point, Black Jade. Where is Pegasus, though?"   
Yugi and Joey both turned and looked at Ailill, who replied promptly. "I think I know, unless they've found a big enough jar."   
Yugi blinked. "Big enough jar? What do you mean, big enough jar?"   
Ailill smiled and began, "Chihiro had this idea…" 

*** 

Everyone looked up when the three of them entered, and Gabriel smiled very wide. Yugi's eyes formed questions when he saw the giant clay Greek-winebottle-jug-thingamabobber they had appropriated. A tablecloth had been flung over the top and secured with a chain, and Seto sat on top of that.   
"We've got the jar part done all right," said Tristan. "The problem is finding music he thinks is annoying."   
Mokuba nodded with considerable force. "Yeah! We played the Barney Theme Song at the highest loudity and it drove Seto half-crazy and all he did was…"   
Ryou finished the sentence. "… sing along."   
"Not only that," Tristan moaned, "it got Téa started too! Even after we turned it off, she kept on and on and on…"   
"Guys," Yugi said, "could you please open it now? We have a duel to fight, you know."   
Seto nodded curtly and jumped to the floor, then grinned as an idea occurred to him. "When we get back to Domino… we can always make him listen to heavy metal."   
Pegasus came out of the jar, looking extremely miffed- in fact, Seto speculated, he set a new record for miffed-ness. He turned to see the puzzle glow again, and Yugi stepped forward, first pulling a few cards out of his deck and handing them to Gabriel. "Pegasus, it's time to duel!"   
(He can win against my deck without Exodia, I'm sure he can handle this without Dark Magician and accessories)   
And everyone but Yugi and Pegasus headed for the path to the balcony, where they all came out a minute later and collectively leaned on the railing to watch the duel. 

*** 

Ailill was nervous.   
They were both arranging themselves at the dueling stations. He could hardly stand to look at Pegasus, but when he finally did, much of his worry went away. Pegasus's power was shattered. Sure, he had that power officially, but he no longer believed he had it. And he didn't.   
Even if he wanted to, Ailill couldn't forget he had held Pegasus's life in his grip. One really hard squeeze and he could have destroyed the creator of the cards for good and for forever, not just until the end of the duel.   
That feeling was hard for anyone to forget.   
And now Yugi was looking up, either at him or at Gabriel who was next to him, but it didn't matter because he would see both of them, and Ailill grinned.   
(let's see how did it go again)   
He held out his right fist, as if he was going to punch something. He lifted his thumb so it was at right angles with his curled-up index finger, pointing straight up. His grin widened.   
Yugi saw, and smiled, and did one right back.   
The duel began.   
Guess who won?   



	12. Happy Beginnings

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Final chapter! I just hope ff.net puts this one up right. Now I can work on the side stories! Yay! 

Apparently some people were having problems with chapter eleven, but last time I checked they were fixed. So please, read chapter eleven first. 

Chapter Twelve: Happy Beginnings   
_28 August_ Joey looked at the clock, then back at Yugi. "All right, lemme run over this again, keep everything straight. Ailill Motou and Gabriel Gallagher?"   
Yugi smiled. "Actually, Joey, it's Ailill Gallagher and Gabriel Motou."   
"Okay. And they're third cousins of yours from Kalamazoo? Or was it Walla Walla?"   
"Somewhere very far off. We decided it was best to not say exactly where they came from, in case there was someone in the class who was actually from Kalamazoo, or wherever we'd decided they came from."   
"Ah. I see dat."   
"And they're just cousins."   
Joey grinned as he looked at them for maybe the thousandth time since he'd arrived at the game shop. Ailill's hair was no longer in the style that could be easily mistaken for a girl's. It was now into several sections that curved into soft points; they seemed kind of half-spiky, like the things Joey's own hair formed. Like Joey's, a good deal of it had flopped in his face. The markings under his eyes had been washed off (with considerable difficulty, Joey knew, because he had been present at one of the attempts- apparently Gabriel hadn't made the paint very water-soluble).   
Gabriel had done something… unique to his own hair. If hair could have kids, and the hair of Yugi and Mako Tsunami had gotten married, Joey thought as he looked at it, this would be their child. Yugi saw Joey staring, and he shrugged. "At least the hair gel ran out before he could spike it _all _up."   
These changes, plus the fact that they were both wearing standard-issue Domino High uniforms, had changed them so effectively that Joey really could tell himself they were Yugi's cousins. Especially with Gabriel's hair the way it was. They could always say crazy hair ran in the family.   
Ailill and Gabriel returned his grins. Ailill gave him a thumbs-up. Yugi pushed open the door of the game shop with his elbow, and they all began to run. 

*** 

Ailill laughed as he pulled ahead of Yugi and Gabriel, then passed Joey. He could hear them shouting from behind, and he deliberately increased his speed for about half a minute, whereupon he slowed his pace and allowed Joey to catch up again.   
This was someplace where numbers and commands from somewhere above did not determine just about everything. This was a place where he could speak not just through kything but through actions.   
This was life.   
Ailill stopped at the gate to the school and waited for them. Joey was already there. Yugi and Gabriel reached the two of them a minute later, gasping and panting. He could see Yugi's other friends approaching; when he turned he saw a limousine a ways off, coming from the other direction.   
He smiled and looked up and watched the birds. 

THE BEGINNING 


End file.
